"Texas Bluebonnets (after William Slaughter)"
Oil on Belgian linen canvas, 9x12, 2024
Private Collection
Oil on Belgian linen canvas, 9x12, 2024
Private Collection
This is a replication of a painting by William Slaughter, which was requested by someone who grew up with the original painting, but lost it to a family estate division. It was very challenging to recreate an intimately known painting that carries such deep sentimental value—and with only a blurry camera phone reference! The original was almost certainly painted on location, or at least from a lifetime of studying this type of landscape. There is a certain breath of life in paintings that come from that kind of art, that which is derived from human perception, intuition, and memory instead of photographic references. That’s something that I will now lean on more heavily in my own work after studying this painting. It was very humbling to attempt following in the footsteps of such a skilled and well-loved artist, and though copying someone else's work did not leave me feeling like a husky bounding through the snow as does sharing a subject that comes from my own experience, I’m grateful for what it taught me. I would encourage other artists to explore the same challenge.