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| 4 Trees, 2003 |
Learn to collect and organize memories in your mind so you can recall specifics when necessary.
Lately, I have been painting rainy cityscapes with reflections of buildings and lights in the wet streets.
More and more, I want to only suggest structures and elements and focus on light, air, and movement. The end result is more representational than abstract; however, I am avoiding too many hard lines or descriptive elements.
Yesterday, as I drove my daughter to school, we had a steady early spring rain and light fog, so the reflections of the headlights behind me were perfect to study while we made our way. I had to be careful not to lose myself in the scene and focus on the road ahead, so I quickly called to mind the particular elements in the paintings I have been working on that have been the most challenging, and took mental snapshots of those elements, as well as trying to feel the energy of the effect.
When painting from memory and trying to suggest things instead of describe, what is most important is the feelings implied by the strokes and colors, not how accurately they represent the object; however, a few choice accurate notes will propel the work to another level of intensity.
In the case of this new series I am working on, whether it be an accurate suggestion of something general like linear or aerial perspective, or specific, like the difference between the headlights' reflection closest to the car and the varying ways it radiates forward, a subtle note of specific rendering will be enough to infuse the painting with a sense of real life.
Aim to distil your ideas and emotions into those few key colors and strokes, and modulate the rest of the work from them. You don't need to become absorbed in the details, just suggest and exploit the most telling variations that will expand the space of your work and trigger the memories of your viewer.
To paint well from memory, you don't need to remember everything, just what is important and necessary for you to create your work. Often, after working in the studio, you can go out into the world with the painting in your mind - and the questions it has stimulated - and seek out the answers: the angle of a shadow, the perspective of a climbing road, the twist of a branch - focus on organizing a small group of memories at first, until you build a workable catalog of reference images in your mind.
Of course, you could use your camera, but I strongly recommend you don't.
Working from photographs is completely different than working from memory; relying on only your mind and soul to call forth the vision will add more breath and life to your work than any increased facility with rendering that photographs may offer could ever come close to. Photographs are great for stimulating ideas, and useful for studying and memory of course, but try to keep them separate from the direct painting experience - they will only get between your mind and your memory.
The Organized Mind is Part 4 of the Series 'Painting From Memory.'
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