The Art of Seeing Part IV: Visual Memory

Perspectives from The Artist's Road

Sawtooth Sunflowers, Cottonwood River © Matthew Richter

Learning to do more than just see—to observe, study and remember one’s subject is essential to learning to draw and paint. We have discussed the sight-size method of learning to reproduce what is directly before us. Once the student has mastered this important skill, the next step is to develop and work from a strong visual memory. The development of a visual memory is the way to retain one’s observations and pull from them not only the essential visual elements of the moment, but also the emotion connected to them. After many years of practice, this process can happen almost unconsciously every time we pick up a brush, even when painting outdoors. Back in the studio, we rely even more heavily on our visual library to instill life and emotion in our work. It is no wonder, then, that art created in partnership with the visual memory has the ability to touch emotion and engage the viewer more than mere representatio…