I’ve been painting for about 6 years after a 35+ year career as an animal sculptor. I mostly paint landscapes because I enjoy entering shows and live in a beautiful area so I have tons of my own reference photos. I would love to be painting more critters, but since I am not a wildlife photographer my options would be quite limited as to paintings I could enter in shows. I still paint animals but use either free reference sites online or pay for licensing from sites like iStock. It is my understanding that to enter shows the reference must have been taken by you, the artist.
Are wildlife art shows different, allowing for the fact that most of us aren’t going to travel the world and spend lots of $$$ on super zoom lenses?