Creating a Painting from Multiple Reference Photos

Learn how to create a painting from multiple reference photos by gathering inspiration, designing a thoughtful composition, and making creative artistic decisions that bring your own ideas to life.

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One of the questions I get asked all the time is, “Where do you get your ideas?”

And honestly? I think one of the biggest misconceptions people have about artists is that we find one perfect reference photo, set it beside our easel, and simply copy what we see. That’s almost never how I paint. In fact, some of my favorite paintings have come from combining ideas from several different photos into one composition.

That’s exactly how “A Doorway to Greece,” the painting you see above, came to life!

I had been staring at my laptop screensaver, which was a family photo that we took while in Greece. I absolutely loved the winding alleyway, the flowers spilling over the walls, and the feeling of walking through those little streets.

But there was something else I couldn’t stop thinking about… The blue arched door from another photo I had taken. I have always loved arched doorways, and I knew I wanted that door to be the star of this painting.

So instead of asking, “Which photo should I paint?” I asked, “How can I combine the parts I love most from both?”

I’m sharing here in this blog post how that process came together! I’ll show you how I take inspiration from multiple reference photos, make creative decisions along the way, and turn those ideas into one original painting that tells a story.

Step 1: Start by Gathering Inspiration

Here’s something I want you to remember… You do not have to wait until you find the perfect reference photo. Actually, I would encourage you not to. Instead, start collecting inspiration.

When I travel, I’m constantly taking pictures. Sometimes it’s a doorway. Sometimes it’s flowers growing over a wall. Sometimes it’s an interesting staircase. Sometimes it’s just beautiful light. None of those photos have to become paintings exactly as they are. They’re simply pieces of inspiration that I can pull from later.

For “A Doorway to Greece,” I had one photo with an alleyway I absolutely loved. Then I had another photo with that beautiful blue door. Neither one by itself told the story I wanted to tell. But together? Now I had something I was excited about.

One of the biggest mindset shifts you can make as an artist is realizing that your reference photos are there to inspire you, not limit you.

Step 2: Decide What You Want the Painting to Say

Before I ever started sketching, I spent some time asking myself a really important question: What do I want people to feel when they look at this painting?

Notice I didn’t ask, “How can I copy this photograph?” Because we already have the photograph.

The purpose of painting isn’t to recreate something a camera has already captured. The purpose is to create something that tells a story.

For me, this painting wasn’t really about a doorway. It was about the feeling of wandering through the streets of Mykonos. It was about wondering what was around the next corner. It was about slowing down enough to notice the flowers growing from the balconies and the way the sunlight hit those white buildings.

Once I knew the feeling I wanted the painting to have, it became much easier to make creative decisions:

• I removed my family from the original photo. Not because they didn’t belong there… But because I wanted you to imagine yourself walking down that street.
• I changed the red door to the blue arched door because I loved the contrast between the bright blue and the vibrant pink flowers.
• I kept the little Greek flags because they helped reinforce the feeling of being there.

Those are all artistic decisions. And that’s what creating original artwork is all about.

Step 3: Build Your Composition Before You Paint

This is probably one of my favorite parts of the creative process. It’s also the part that a lot of artists skip.

Once I know what story I want the painting to tell, I don’t immediately grab a paintbrush. Instead, I start playing with the composition. Sometimes that means making little thumbnail sketches. Sometimes I’ll crop a photo several different ways. Sometimes I’ll move elements around completely.

I’m asking questions like…

• Where do I want the viewer’s eye to go first?
• What’s my focal point?
• What can I simplify?
• What doesn’t need to be there?

Composition is really just arranging the pieces of your painting so they work together. If the composition is strong, the painting becomes so much easier.

Step 4: Use Helpful Tools to Explore Your Ideas

One thing I want to mention is that I don’t think there’s anything wrong with using tools that help you explore your ideas.

For this painting, I used AI in a way that felt really helpful for my creative process. I wasn’t asking AI to create a painting for me. I wasn’t asking it to decide on the colors or paint the brushstrokes. I simply wanted to answer one question: “What would this blue doorway look like in this location?”

So I took the two photos you see above (the one of my family and the photo of the blue arched door), and I asked AI to replace the original doorway with the blue one and remove my family from the image. Within a few seconds, I had a rough concept to work from.

This image above is what the AI tool created for me. Now, was it perfect? Not at all. But it gave me something to react to. Sometimes that’s all we need, a starting point.

From there, I traced only the important structural lines of the composition and transferred those onto my painting surface. The painting itself was still completely hand-painted, but using AI helped me quickly visualize an idea before I ever started painting.

Think of it like another sketchbook. It’s simply one more tool that can help you explore possibilities.

Step 5: Learn to See the Big Shapes

One of the things I teach all the time is that we can get so caught up in the details that we forget to look at the overall design.

When I looked at my reference photos, I wasn’t thinking about every flower or every stone in the walkway. I was looking at the big picture.vI noticed how the lines of the alley naturally pointed toward the doorway. I noticed how the staircase created another line leading your eye into the painting. Even the flowering tree curves around the doorway, almost framing it and pulling your attention right where I wanted it to go.

Those are the things I want you to start seeing.

Instead of asking yourself, “How do I paint every little detail?” Try asking, “Where do I want the viewer to look first?”

Once you know the answer to that question, the rest of the composition starts falling into place.

Step 6: Don’t Be Afraid to Crop or Change Your Reference

Here’s something I think gives artists a lot of freedom once they realize it: You don’t have to paint everything that’s in your reference photo. In fact, sometimes the strongest compositions come from deciding what to leave out.

For this painting, I knew I wanted the doorway to be the focal point, so I cropped my reference until the composition felt balanced. I simplified areas that weren’t adding anything to the story. I removed distractions. I even changed the architecture by swapping out the doorway completely.

If you only remember one thing from this blog, let it be this: Your reference photo works for you. You don’t work for your reference photo.

You’re the artist. You get to decide what stays. You get to decide what goes.

Step 7: Create a Study Before You Paint

One thing I love to do before I ever start a final painting is create what I call a study. A study is simply a mini painting in your mixed media pad or painting journal where you can work through your ideas before you move to canvas.

Studies are not about creating a masterpiece or making everything perfect. They’re just a place to play with your composition, test color combinations, and figure out what you like, and maybe what you’d change, before you start your final painting. When you’re creating an original, you’re working out a lot of these ideas long before you ever get to the canvas.

I also think studies take a lot of the pressure off. You’re free to experiment, change your mind, and simply enjoy the creative process.

Sometimes I’ll do one study. Sometimes I’ll do two or three on a page.

The goal isn’t perfection. The goal is getting your ideas out of your head and onto paper.

Extra Tip: Trust Your Creative Decisions

One thing I hope you take away from this entire process is that creating original artwork isn’t about waiting for the perfect idea. It’s about making one creative decision after another.

You gather inspiration. You choose the parts that speak to you. You simplify. You rearrange. You crop. You experiment. Then you trust yourself enough to put it all together.

That’s exactly what happened with “A Doorway to Greece!” It started with a few vacation photos, but it became something much more personal because I gave myself permission to change things. And I hope you’ll do the same.

Your paintings don’t have to look exactly like your reference photos. In fact, I think they’ll become even more meaningful when they don’t.

Final Thoughts

The next time you’re scrolling through your camera roll or flipping through vacation photos, don’t spend all your time looking for the one perfect picture. Instead, look for the pieces that inspire you. Maybe it’s the doorway from one photo. The flowers from another. The lighting from a third. Those individual pieces can come together to create something that’s completely your own.

Because at the end of the day, we’re not trying to recreate a photograph. We’re trying to create a painting that tells a story. And that’s one of my favorite parts of being an artist.

Want to Learn More?

If this peek behind the scenes of “A Doorway to Greece” sparked something in you, I’d love to invite you to continue the journey Inside the Art Studio™. Inside the Art Studio is where I teach the complete creative process I use every time I create an original painting, from gathering inspiration and planning a composition to making confident creative decisions and developing artwork that’s uniquely yours.

Inside the course, we’ll dive deeper into topics like:

• Gathering inspiration from your own photos, nature, Pinterest, still life, and even AI
• Building stronger compositions before you ever pick up a paintbrush
• Using thumbnail sketches to plan your paintings with confidence
• Understanding color, value, and design
• Developing your own artistic style instead of relying on step-by-step tutorials

If you’ve ever found yourself wondering, “How do I come up with my own painting ideas?” or “How do I move beyond following tutorials?”… I created this course for you!

I’d love to show you the same repeatable creative process I use every time I begin a new painting, so you can confidently create artwork that’s uniquely yours. Learn more about Inside the Art Studio™ here!

Stay creative and happy painting!