The dynamic horizon at sunrise or sunset is the hardest to
capture, you have either to chase the light with the brush or prepare yourself
for the event. My approach has been both, to do pencil sketches and color studies
on location, to use them, and my memory of the experience to create/finish
pieces in the studio. The library of information I gather from observation
helps me understand what I am seeing and hopefully interpret it in a meaningful
way. As I remember and conceptualize the
landscape I attempt to make informed decisions, based on my observed details
and the nuances of nature. However I try to be as truthful to the experience as
possible, to keep in my mind’s eye that which inspired me in the first place.
Waxing philosophical, I believe our brains are conscious
of almost every experience in our life and every encounter we have, and that
stored among those billions of neurons in the brain are endless images and
impressions. That it is not only possible to train ones visual memory but a
necessity for the artist to do so. Up until maybe the later part of the
nineteenth century memory exercises of some type were part of most academic art
educations. If it be as simple as practicing blind contour drawing or copying
prints of sculptures as in the Beaux-Arts tradition. They recognized the
importance of a highly trained visual memory as a skill an artist used in
companionship with the direct study of nature.
I see memory training as another tool in my tool box helping me interpret what I see in front of me.
Technically I've been able to slowly build glazes of
color to explore those atmospheric effects I am after and was the initial
inspiration.
I love this quote by Edgar
Degas on the subject,
“If I were to open an academy I would have a five story
building. The model would pose on the ground floor with the first year
students. The most advanced students would work on the fifth floor." I can
imagine the advanced students dashing up and down flights of stair as they
study the model and dart back to their easels to make their marks.
Explore - Question - Learn - - Enjoy, Jim
Images:
Jim Serrett, Lake Murphysboro Sunset, oil on panel 5 x 7 in
Jim Serrett, Perseids Sunset, oil on panel, 5 x 7 in
Graphite Sketch on toned paper.
Sketchbook page
Links:
Memory Training For Painters by Richard Lack from the
Classical Realism Quarterly 1990
Download pdf Here
The Training of the Memory in Art and the Education of
the Artist
Horace Lecoq de Boisbaudran – Author
"The Practice and Science of Drawing" by Harold
Speed
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