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| christine troyer |
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| catherine delorimier, memory sunrise |
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| lisa la quelenec, la rocco |
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| caroline simmil, little earth |
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| lorenzo chavez, march wind |
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| nika zakharov, memory sunset |
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| brenda boylan, memory painting |
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| sam hannaway, when color first comes |
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| maggie latham |
Look at these beautiful paintings! Cheers to all who tried. Most attempted to work completely from memory, following the tradition of Whistler. Many said that their work is not a full memory painting and that they felt they needed to sketch or use a photo to help. Regardless, the work is beautitful and from the heart..
What struck me was how each painter's distinct personality was so easy to see when working from memory. The other "stuff" is stripped away. The maker becomes exposed.
These were the guidelines I gave all last week.
The memory painting guidelines, adapted from Whistler.
*watch a scene, then turn your back and in words describe in detail. If you have someone with you have them correct if you are wrong. Do this till it is secure in your head. No photos or sketches.
* Wait 12 hours, allow the scene to be created in your head
* Paint, using only that memory. Your knowledge and understanding of light will stream in and guide you.
* I will be happy to post a jpeg of your painting on my site, with credit to you, of course.
Each first time memory painter talked about their fear and their release at trying. Of course after showing all these moments of memory I have to post words from John Carlson.
"The memory exaggerates the essential; the trifles of incidents tend to become blurred. Protracted painting of what one sees before him (or her) dulls the initial expressive shock. In painting from memory, the whole stress is laid on expressive agents. In direct-from-nature painting, much useless lumber insinuates itself,interesting for its own sake, but derogatory to the whole. The eye is greedy. There is always too much material seen, with not enough synthesis."
Please, in your leisure, take a little time to look at the blogs and websites of the fellow memory painters:
Christine Troyer
Maggie LathamI'll end with words from Lorenzo Chavez. He told me a little bit about the creation of his painting "March Wind."
I love to spend my day in the field working from life and sometimes just sitting or walking and really looking at the landscape. I find it very meditative. In fact I now practice a form of meditation called Mindful Meditation. It is a practice of staying focused on a thought or an object and really paying attention .
I am amazed at how well my recall is when practicing this.
"March Wind" is an attempt to get the feeling of fading light and the gentle pulse of the earth through the filter of a remembered landscape.
If by chance you submitted a painting and I did not post it, let me know. I posted all I received.
