How Many Times Can an Artist Paint the Same Thing?

What is it about a subject or scene that makes an artist paint it over and over? You’ve seen me paint the boats I love at different angles, and with different color schemes. I think I’ve painted Jeremy’s skiff 10 times.

But I also paint the same landscape scenes more than once. You may be wondering why. First, of course, I have to like the scene. Usually it will contain some water, because reflections appeal to me, like in the scene above. The painting on the left was painted in early afternoon, and the one on the right in late afternoon. For that one, I stood a bit to the right to see more trees, and the shadows were longer. I enjoyed the challenge of drawing the trees and being able to adjust the colors for the time of day.

Being able to conveniently get to a place to paint is also appealing. And when I find one close by, I go there more than once. The painting above on the left was done in early spring, when the marsh grass was still dead, and I was happy to have a warm day to enjoy painting outside and practice painting with a knife. Later in the summer, the painting on the right gave me a chance to let the greens take over, and really push the color. The underpainting on that one is actually orange and purple!

Sometimes, a plein air painting inspires me to recreate it in a larger format in the studio. The painting above on the left was mostly done out of doors, and is 8”x10”. The studio painting on the right is 20”x24”, more than four times the size. What attracts me to this scene over and over again is both the little red fish shack and the stacked houses, it’s a drawing challenge that I can’t resist.

Another thing that intrigues me is painting the same scene in a different medium. For the second painting, the composition has already been worked out, and I can focus on how to bring the scene to life in a different medium. On the left, is a quick, loose oil painting from a photo. On the right I worked in pastel, with the photo and the oil painting as a reference. It was lots of fun!