Process

Life and nature are always in flux. We all go through anabolic, plateau, and catabolic cycles and each stage is interesting and beautiful in its own way. Painting often-overlooked fragments of nature allows me to show the fragile beauty inherent in birth, bloom, and even in decay.

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The goal of hyperrealism is to create a verisimilitude that is so convincing that it appears to be a photograph, a still frame of a moment in time. It’s a complicated endeavor to take a subject from real life, make it as realistic as possible while enlarging it to a scale that doesn’t match its original size.

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It takes a long time, from painstaking preparation of canvas to mixing a colour palate to mimic shades near enough to match what Mother Nature so effortlessly provides. It ain’t easy, that’s for sure.  Add in the slight anxiety at the beginning of each new project and mix well.  Am I up for this?  Can I do it well? Each choice I make is a conscious one designed to up my game and improve my skill.

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Ernest Hemmingway once wrote that we are all apprentices at a craft no one masters. That applies to all avenues of artistic expression. If you’re not getting better, you’re not challenging yourself enough.

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Each painting I do requires between 200 and 300 hours to get it to the stage you see on the web. It’s not for the faint of heart but it’s very rewarding.

Every new project keeps me humble and appreciative of what I’ve learned and all there is left to learn.

 

Ralph Sears