Alfred Stieglitz one stated, "There is hardly a right & a wrong in these matters, but there is truth, & that should form the basis of all works of art".

If truth is an absolute value, unchallengeable & always right, I would ask you to dwell on this thought. Think of a tree you can see in your neighbour's garden. You may both agree it exists there, rooted, tangible, you could lean upon it, or sit in it's shadow. However, to your neighbour, who may wish to build a house extension on that same piece of ground, the tree may well be seen as an impediment. For you an object of beauty, to your neighbour, it is a problem to be resolved. Does the tree still have an absolute, or singular value ? Is the truth of the tree's existence in these parallel perceptions accurately 'represented' in a photograph ?

To take this a stage further, if you & your neighbour were to be equally capable artists, who enjoyed painting in a similar style, would you both expect to paint the tree in an identical manner ? Surely not. The 'truth' about your view of the tree would surely be coloured by your perception about it, it's beauty, appropriateness to the setting, colour, health, the list is almost endless in variations & possibilities. I would ask you to consider the possibility that the tree is not an absolute at all. That a photograph could represent the tree only at the instant of exposure, & even then decisions taken by the photographer when developing & printing the image will be varied by his perceptions of appropriateness to timing, light, chemical balance, paper etc.

For me, painting is not about attempting to replicate the 'representational truth' about the subject before my easel. By painting the 'same' sitter, in the 'same' pose day after day, I have tried to look beyond the simple arrangement of limbs or facial expressions. I am interested in trying to capture my 'perceptions' about my sitter on that day, that morning, that minute, with that single stroke of the palette knife & thus to stimulate a reaction in the viewer. Ten minutes before I may have been concentrating on her knee, ten minutes later I may be concentrating on her breast, but I cannot paint her entire image in an instant & nor is there a single angle to view her.