HOW TO IMPROVE YOUR VISUAL MEMORY

This is a good exercise to practise in the studio to help to develop your short-term visual memory. When we are painting plein-air, the scene before us changes so quickly that it helps if we can remember for a short while how things looked. For example, a figure who was only there for a few moments, or how the shadows looked before the cloud passed across the sun. This project also helps you to discriminate between what are the important shapes that you need to get down in the painting and what you can do without.

FINDING YOUR FOCUS

To ensure you can put your focus on the structure of the painting, rather than precise hues (or worse, working out where a paint tube is) a little bit of preparation is useful.

• Have plenty of paint squeezed out on the palette and a good handful of brushes to hand.

• Look at the photograph and pre-mix five or six pools of colour which correspond to colours in the subject.

• Choose a panel or piece of primed paper or canvas that has the same overall ratio of proportions as the photograph; or use masking tape to mark out the correct proportions on the surface.

 To ensure that you don’t have to stop to grab a brush or particular colour, it’s important to have your tools to hand

 Premixing the correct colours beforehand, with reference to the photograph, ensures that you can concentrate on remembering shapes and form