" Where did you get that Idea.....how did you come up with that?", or even " where can I find refrences for this, that or the other thing?"
Well for me....its in my head for one, it is in the books I read, and even the stuff I watch on tv. I find ideas come from anywhere and everywhere. I see it as I drive down the road, or like today I was watching the History channel and they had a thing on about the Mayans......guesss what---------NOW I WANT TO DO A PAINTING ABOUT MAYANS. So it is everywhere for me.
Ideas and subject are the easy questions to answer. Reference for things maybe more difficult..........but not really. Reference stuff is EVERYWHERE.
Like I say at the top of the page:
"In my world, dragons still exist, knights in shining armour still rescue damsels in distress, and trolls still live under bridges waiting on billygoats."
.....and yes they do.
In the town in which we live, our courthouse is (to me) a castle, or a large villa for some noble, or even a courthouse
......these two photos are the courthouse in another town near us.
For me the refrence is there ready and waiting.....I just have to see it. It is all a matter of perception, here is another example, when I was working on the painting Primal Dawn I had to paint ape fur.....I didn't have an ape or a zoo close by....so here is my reference for the fur
Yes that big mess of hair belongs to none other than our dog Bob.
Well that is it for now, I will be doing more of these as I go along, but in general.....IT IS EVERYWHERE for everyone, whether you are a cowboy artist, fantasy, space, whatever you do, it is right there for you, you just have to look and see it.
Tracy
