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Painting from memory and imagination.
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Message
Posted
Has anyone done as I often do, and that is to imagine an area which I know, ie; a scene from that area, then gone ahead with a quick sketch to get the composition in place...it needn't be too detailed...and then painted it from memory? It gives you a visual kind of preview of what your painting will be, and as the scene is/was a real one you have something to go on and you end up (if you're lucky!) with at least a representation of what you remembered. I find it helps if I close my eyes until the scene takes shape. (Yes, I know my work often looks as if I've painted it with both eyes closed, but we won't go into that!!) I realise that it may not suit a dedicated artist as you need to adjust tonal values which you can't actually see, but these usually make themselves evident as you go along. Hope I'm not talking tentative rubbish here....
Posted
If I understand you aright, then the answer's yes .... because I almost never paint on the spot now, I take photographs, make sketches, then come home and translate them into a version of what I've seen, but never an accurate representation, or almost never. Of course, if you're painting a local landmark then you have to be fairly accurate at least: but what you surround it with may be precisely this, an imagined version of the reality.
I've also just made things up - might have taken the basic information from a given place, but have then put a building in, added imagined elements .... other than the most adept sticklers for detail, I would think most landscape painters do something like this; I know some pride themselves on accurate representation almost down to the last blade of grass, but I don't really see the point. The camera will do that, and is better at it.
Posted
I have painted purely from imagination, but the results have not been very successful. I'd rather use sketched photos for reference. The resultant paintings are never exact copies for various reasons. My latest work in progress was not possible in situ - it is not possible to paint in temperatures of -5C and below, or on a constantly moving boat.
Posted
Live painting, working from sketches, reference photos, what matter? What you are turning out is a personal representation or impression of something a million people will have seen anyway. There isn't a view or angle of Venice (for instance) that hasn't been photographed, drawn or painted the said million times, yet another million will be currently underway anyway. If all you want is an exact copy of a photograph or scene, why bother, just use a camera. For me, what appears on paper, canvas or board isn't the art as such, but the artist offering themselves, their inner selves, up for examination in their work results. This is why I find the Paint Challenge a bit baffling. Why criticise and correct whilst it's happening, what is effectively a test of skill and talent? Every single offering is worthy of praise as long as it is spontaneous. Who judges correctly when even the teachers all have different views or opinions of how to paint a head, figure, vase, view of Lake Windermere? It's pretty certain that the best work will emerge in the end if it comes from the artist's offering and not the instructors. If not, there's something wrong.
Edited
by Wanderer69