Looking at this again now, I don't think I got the proportions quite right. Heh heh. Oh well. What really drew me to this was the paper tag at the end of the tea string. I hope I captured the delicacy of it. That and the very subtle reflection of it in the cup. Every time I stepped away to look at the whole painting and then stepped back, the paper would flop around in the breeze I created. Luckily it always seemed to land back in the same position.
I think the biggest roadblock on our path to painting what we see is ... our brains. We aren't aware of it, but our brains filter out a TON of information all the time. If it didn't, we'd constantly be overwhelmed by life and probably spend our days in a fetal position in the corner. Our brains also piece together bits of information to make out things we know. So when we see an apple, it goes into the apple category in our brain and we start to paint it like every other apple. But every apple is unique, and not necessarily how you think. A green apple may not have a speck of "pure" green in it. So we've got to use tricks to get past our brain. Squinting is probably the easiest (my favorite). Then using a mirror to look at it backwards, or turning your painting upside down. I'd love to hear more. Please comment if you have a different trick that you'd like to share. Thanks.
