April 14, 2008

Painting from Memory


In the book "Carlson's Guide to Landscape Painting" by John F. Carlson I have read about the importance of memory paintings and sketches. He states: "Enough stress cannot be laid upon the importance of memory work" (Chapter 14, p.137). And later he says:"The memory exaggerates the essentials;(...)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." (ibid., P.137).
When we made a walk last sunday, I saw a woman sitting on a bench under a huge fir tree. I almost immediately felt the urge to paint the scene. At home, I tried to paint what I had seen. This is the result. Funnily enough, I read the chapter in the book when I already had painted the scene...
In dem Buch "Carlson's Guide to Landscape Painting" von John F. Carlson las ich über die Wichtigkeit von aus dem Gedächtnis angefertigten Malereien und Skizzen. Er schreibt: "Man kann gar nicht genug Gewicht legen auf Arbeiten, die nach dem Gedächtnis gemacht werde." (Kap. 14, S. 137). Und später schreibt er: "In der Malerei nach der Erinnerung liegt das Hauptaugenmerk auf ausdrucksstarken Mitteln. Wenn man direkt vor der Natur malt schleichen sich in das Bild sozusagen viele unnütze Dinge ein, die -für sich selbst gesehen - zwar interessant -, dem Ganzen jedoch abträglich sind." (ibid., S. 137). Als wir letzten Sonntag einen Spaziergang machten, sah ich eine Frau, die unter einer mächtigen Tanne auf einer Bank saß. Ich wollte diese Szene malen und fertigte dann zuhause eine Skizze nach der Erinnerung an. Dies ist das Ergebnis. Lustigerweise las ich das Kapitel in dem Buch erst, nachdem ich bereits die Skizze gemacht hatte...

11 comments:

Sandy said...

So soft and dreamy - absolutely lovely!

Teri said...

It is a beautiful beautiful memory!

caseytoussaint said...

Nice work - for me painting from memory is the hardest thing.

sukipoet said...

I wonder what the meld is of memory and imagination. I know I almost always alter scenes whether they are in my mind, in a photo or i am standing in front of it.

Very nice quote. Lovely painting. You must live in a beautiful place to be near those mountains.

Anonymous said...

This is beautiful Claudia, very poetic, which is how I would like my memories to be!
ronell

df said...

hi claudia. i love the mountains, with the white of the paper showing through. Nice!

Anonymous said...

What an absolutely beautiful place for a walk!

Your painting is very good too.

Anonymous said...

Hallo Claudia,
vielen Dank für Deinen lieben Kommentar. Aber auch Du hast einen ganz tollen Blog. Die Bilder gefallen mir sehr gut. Ich könnte nie so malen. Wie schafft man das nur. Schönes Wochenende
Barbara

RH Carpenter said...

I like how she blends into the landscape and you have to look for her. Lovely. I don't seem able to paint from memory - but maybe if it was a fresh one, I could. Definitely makes me want to try.

ellie said...

These are beautiful, free and dreamy paintings ! I know what you mean about feeling sad if you have no time to paint ! I'm suffering that at the moment ! Take care

Alison said...

Wow, those mountains as the background to an afternoon walk - amazing!