Artist’s Oil Paintings Are So Lifelike They Are Often Mistaken For Photographs

Take a close look at the images in this article… do you see it?

When I first saw Doug Bloodworth’s artwork, I did a double take. Doug’s art looks like it involves photographing ordinary objects in an interesting way, but there is much more to it than that!

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Doug Bloodworth

These are actually paintings and they are so realistic, I really thought I was looking at photography, but then that’s what Doug is trying to do. Doug paints in a genre known as photorealism. His oil paintings look so lifelike they’re often mistaken for photographs.

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Doug Bloodworth

“I love when people see my paintings…and say to one another, ‘Nice photo’,” Doug told Reshareworthy.com.

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Doug Bloodworth

Doug told us that he loves to watch their reaction when they’re told they’re actually oil paintings. “Their look of incredulity is such a pleasure to watch.  Many people stare at the paintings for a very long time.”

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Doug Bloodworth

Much of his work has nostalgic subject matter. The images will trigger a memory of childhood that many people can relate to.

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Doug Bloodworth

“I also enjoy evoking the feelings of nostalgia amongst the viewers,” comments Doug. “Recently…I overheard a family looking at my Monopoly painting.  One said, ‘I was always the dog’; another said, ‘I was the iron’.”

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Doug Bloodworth

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Doug Bloodworth

Many of the images in Doug’s paintings are things he enjoyed as a kid. “My father was in the military and we moved around a lot. I was born on a US military base in the Philippines and also spent time in Hawaii as a child. As such, I spent a lot of time watching kids’ television and reading comic books.”

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Doug Bloodworth

Doug says, “Recently, I was visiting the Celebrites Gallery in Maui, which showcases my paintings, and I overheard one couple talking about the painting with the Superman comic, the potato chips and the soft drink.  The husband stated, ‘Wow, that’s me as a kid!’ ”

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Doug Bloodworth

“As an adult, I love depicting these nostalgic images in my paintings. It seems to resonate with viewers as well.”

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Doug Bloodworth

For 10 years, Doug painted huge outdoor billboards that were half the size of an Olympic pool!

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Doug Bloodworth

His photorealistic paintings are nowhere near that size, but they’re still pretty big.

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Doug Bloodworth

“A photorealist painting in the size I create them – four feet by five feet – can take me over two months to complete,” says Doug. “But it is a labor of love.”

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Doug Bloodworth

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Doug Bloodworth

Doug told Reshareworthy.com that he’s personally attached to whatever it is he’s painting.

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Doug Bloodworth

He loves the challenge of trying to paint a newspaper to look like a real newspaper or making a Crayola marking look like it was drawn on paper.

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Doug Bloodworth

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Doug Bloodworth

He really hopes to push the genre of photorealistic paintings to a bigger audience.

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Doug Bloodworth

“Photorealism is a genre or art which can be appreciated and loved by the novice as well as the refined collector,” Doug says.

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Doug Bloodworth

Doug adds, “I would love for more and more people to become devotees of photorealism.”

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Doug Bloodworth

Doug often visits the galleries displaying his work and paints on site to meet people and show them his work in progress.

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Doug Bloodworth

“I’m so happy because I’m doing what I love and people also love, so how can life be better than that?”

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Doug Bloodworth

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Doug Bloodworth

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Doug Bloodworth

You can see more of Doug’s art by visiting photorealism.com and Doug’s Facebook page.

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