Years ago in a portrait class, the featured artist , gave this insight,"you do need to follow the trends, like now, people are painting little girls." He went on to explain that his father's basement was filled with unsold paintings, this kind of suggested because he hadn't painted what the market wanted he was left behind. 

This has stuck in my mind over the years, even noticed a change in the demand for paintings of horses. At an event a friend came up and said her granddaughter wanted a painting of a horse. I was pleased, until I realized it wasn't a painting of a real horse, but a more creative horse painted with hearts and other things.

It stuck in my mind. Watching things change around me less and less horse people, a decreasing market, and increasing an abstract market. I saw selfies increase and become wonderful, so that affected the portrait market.

So I looked around at paintings that sold.  I found a creative way of painting that stood out, painting in the negative. Painting in the negative is painting the foreground first then the background. So paint the trees first then the sky. Now this is a change. This painting Burst of Sunlight, shows how I started painting negative but I kept switching back and forth. Not easy for me to change. I found when I had to change something I switched back to realistic type of painting.  Especially the two small trees in front, somehow they went back to the old style.

My thinking is that we can paint realistically but with more creativitity. 

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