Hi. Jackie here. Well, it’s mid-July—the heart of vacation time. If you’re a shutterbug like me, you’ll come back from vacation with tons of photos. All those photos can serve as great inspiration for your paintings. The most important thing to remember is reference photos are only inspiration. You can alter them in any way you want. Delete the ugly (like telephone polls or billboards) and enhance the beauty (why not add a dramatic sky?). About.com has a helpful article on how to use reference photos. Read it by clicking here.

Okay, so what if you don’t take a good photo, or you’re not traveling anywhere inspiring. You can still find tons of copyright-free photos to paint from. About.com has some great suggestions here. You also can check out the Artist’s Photo Reference series. Each book is full of hundreds of color reference photos that pertain to a specific subject. Two great titles from that series are:

Reflections Textures & Backgrounds            Wildlife

And Artist’s Digital Photo Reference: Landscapes features more than 1,000 inspiring photos of the great outdoors on an easy-to-use CD-ROM.

Click here to check it out.


Whether you’re taking a trip to a far-off land, visiting family or simply having a stay-cation at home, I hope you find time to relax and refresh and enjoy a much-needed break from your normal routine.

Happy vacationing!

Jackie