The other day I was trying to figure out what reference photo to use to paint some flowers. With the way copyright laws are with paintings inspired by photographs, it is often easiest to paint from your own reference photos. A lot of the perennials in my garden aren’t blooming yet, so I decided to take a trip to the local Home Depot garden center and take some photos. I asked the garden center employees if I could take some photos to use for painting and they were quite happy to oblige.

It was so enjoyable searching for all my favorite flowers and trying to photograph them in a way that would make for an interesting painting composition.

If you need some reference photos, or want to paint some more exotic flowers than what you are able to grow in your garden, I recommend taking a photo field trip to your local garden center!