Maybe for a simple, non-professional art class, the local sensibilities of prudish behavior override. She doesn't want to make waves, but to keep things "nice" and safe for the ladies
That's exactly it, Jbee. Whilst most things here in small town rural UK are nicer, conservatism of all sorts is more pronounced. The cities are where to go to find a higher proportion of open minds.
Also, Duane, some of the ladies in my group are quite talented - better than me. One produces incredible, impressionistic work and then proceeds to be unhappy with it but it generates extreme envy of her talent amongst the rest of us!
Now the secret revealed: Whilst I am well able to produce work of that quality from scratch or by the usual reference to a photo, the picture below was a painting produced by tracing (tracing has been used at least since the rennaissance!). I have developed a method using MS Fresh Paint (you need windows 10, Duane!) on my tablet. You can place a picture on the tablet screen and use the electronic pen to trace and shade over the original. This really speeds up the draughting process and is a cheat to get better rendering of perspective. I then remove the original leaving the pen sketch, which I then print out onto watercolour paper and paint in all the colours and shadows, etc,etc and also make the picture my own where appropriate (I left quite a bit out compared with the original as you couldn't get some of the effects etc in watercolour rather than oils). So the effect is a composite of assisted copying and original painting. I certainly don't use this technique exclusively but it is nice to focus on the line and so on of a proper masterly painting or a difficult photographic subject and be somewhat guided to the composite conclusion. It's certainly a lot less formulaic than some of the commercial patent methods which involve exact copying, brushstroke for brushstroke of a tutor.
John
