ARTIST Peter Carey

I paint in order to recreate a mood I experienced at a particular instant. Because I will never have the opportunity to bring the viewer to that particular place and time. I use a camera to capture the instant, but a photograph by itself has never produced the end result that I wanted. The only way to give credibility to the image is to paint it. Although my paintings tend towards photorealism, I want them to be clearly identifiable as a painting.

If my painting can depict reality so closely that a viewer gets lost in the scene in front of them, then I feel proud of my craft. This pride in what I do is just as important as the reaction of people who see my paintings because ultimately I am my own harshest critic. The process involves seeing a potential image and photographing it, selecting images that will work, painting them as best I can, and promoting the end product. All of these stages can be exciting or work.

I like to think that the end product is worth the work and that the excitement is a bonus.

I frequently use a combination of photos for the initial drawing, which I trace or draw freehand. I like to use a mouth atomizer for skies, sponges for clouds, and brushes for almost everything else. I paint using watercolor on paper or illustration board. I layer watercolors in an opaque style, unlike the traditional transparent use of watercolor. When I am afraid that doing anything more to a painting may spoil it, then I am done. I work on several projects simultaneously in order to keep from getting stale.