Are you a painter or a camera?

In my classes this month we have been painting from vacation photos.   I have been trying to get the point across to my students that to create a good painting does not mean you try to paint a perfect copy of your photo.  We are after all, not cameras but painters.  Painters create.  I believe photos should be used as the source, the inspiration, the beginning for what evolves into a painting.  

Here is the example I brought to my classes.  I took this photo in Corneglia, Italy a few years ago.

I loved the light coming through the arch and spilling down the stairs, the window leading to nowhere, and the textures are great.  However,  the camera lense distorted the angles of the walls and windows.  Can you imagine how wrong my painting would have been had I just traced this photo and painted it? 

My painting below captures the light spilling down the stairs, the window to nowhere and the textures I found inspiring.  But my creativity let loose in the colors I chose making the painting definately not an exact copy of the source photo.

"Via Fieshi", 24" x 18" watercolor $850.00