For Christmas, I gave out two gift certificates good for a painting of their choice to two friends. One, who is a birdwatcher like me, immediately said, “I want a painting of Loons” (which show up on her lake, they visit every fall and spring here in Michigan). The other said, “A moose!” (I’ll show that one in a few days)
I didn’t have any loon photos that I or my roommate had taken, so I “cheated.” I went to a wonderful artist’s forum (wetcanvas.com), to their photo library, and found some good photos. So, unlike my normal paintings, the photo references was taken by another individual: Steve Mac, a gifted photographer. ; I put photos of two of his loons together into a painting.
Since this was a private Christmas present, and not for sale, I’m assuming that it was okay to use this photo, as long as I give photo credit for the reference photos that I used. I do hope my friend enjoys the painting! They are beautiful birds indeed; I love to hear their lonely calls in the early evenings.
Very pretty
Combining ideas in creating art does not seem to be cheating. It is taking an idea and expanding it beyond the original adding your own embellishments to make it unique. If you copied it line for line and color for color then you would need to give credit to the original creator. That is my understanding of art.