Is Lying Forgivable If You Are An Artist?

I think I am honest until I get a brush in my hand and then I have a tendency to stretch the truth. Here are two examples of my study's from class today.  First, the bushes I painted were really trees.  The field... well, it was really a cliff. And I trimmed almost all the branches off the focal tree.  
So I asked myself.  Is lying forgivable if you are an artist?

5X7 Oil with Brush on Canvas

6X6 Oil with Brush On Canvas

If so, I am going to adopt the saying, "You know I am lying when my brush is moving".