Sometime an artist runs out of ideas. What will I paint next? The fear that there will never be a painting as good as the last always dogs an artist’s mind. It’s called an artist’s block.

I might suggest you dig through your digital photo library on your computer, or go back to the old photos stuffed in a box in the top or bottom of your closet.

The pictures on this page are from a trip to Miami, Florida a couple of years ago. I took a stroll through a street bizarre. They were selling fruit, drinks, trinkets and there were nearby restaurants set up for service under awnings. I’ve always enjoyed artist depicting scenes such as this, so I snapped a few shots. Within the pics is an arsenal of artistic opportunities.

It doesn’t matter whether the photograph is artistically composed correct enough for a painting, , it may be enough for an idea. The artist’s brain will do the rest.

There may only be a tiny section of the picture that is an inspiration. For example, in the pic to the right it might be the shadow of the palm at the bottom that inspires you out of your artist block. It may be the people walking between the exhibits, or it might just be the overall color scheme.

Who doesn’t like bicycles? This is why I took the picture in the first place…someday I am certain I will need referral material of a bicycle or group of bicycles. Thank goodness for the digital camera. If I wish, I can crop the picture to show the action and body language of the person in the upper left riding his bicycle.

There are tremendous uses for photographs that depict foliage. I always recommend that artists do not use them for color reference because there are to many hue descrepancies that can be interpreted and will not help your painting. However, I do recommend that an artist use them for accuracy in their depiction.

For a further discussion of using a photograph for painting click on picture to the right>>>