Beyond its own value as a fine art, photography is a valuable tool for today’s artists. A camera can record a lot of information in very little time. It can also capture images that the eye and memory cannot. Photographs, for example, provide reference for the wings of a bird in flight, a sports figure in action, a tempestuous sky and the ebb and flow of the sea. But the camera is limited in what it can see by where it’s aimed. Artists are limited only by where they aim their imaginations. Ideas and inspiration come from within; details come from study and research—and that includes reference photographs.

The lighthouse portrayed in Through the Storm (watercolor, 18 x 20) sits on a rock island in the ocean off Portsmouth, New Hampshire. If you’re familiar with the location, you know that from this vantage point it could only have been painted from a boat or a photograph. Now I don’t know about you, but I have no desire to be at sea with a storm coming or going. Instead, I played it safe and photographed the lighthouse on a bright, clear day with an experienced sailor at the helm. The lighting and mood are from my own imagination.

To create Taxco Alley (watercolor, 20 x 24), I worked from pictures I took in Mexico. To improve the composition, I played up the rectangular shapes formed by the buildings and added the figure on the left as a focal point. I also changed the light and shadow pattern and used the line between the dark and light triangles on the roof to lead the viewer’s eye to the woman in blue. To keep the brushwork loose and lively, I used the largest brush possible for painting each area.

"When I first started with watercolor I painted very tight, detailed paintings. I still like the detail, but have worked hard to develop a looser, freer style. I feel a painting is really successful when someone gets close to it and is surprised that something they thought was done in great detail is nothing more than a few, quick, calligraphic strokes," says Jim McFarlane. A graduate of the Philadelphia College of Art and Tyler School of Art, Temple University, he has taught watercolor classes and workshops for more than 20 years. A signature member of the Philadelphia Watercolor Club and the Pennsylvania Watercolor Society, he lives in Norristown, Pennsylvania.