Memory Painting, 16x12

Memory Painting, 16x12" Pastel on sanded paper

My favorite blogger, Loriann Signori, has been posting what she has been learning from the writings of the tonalist painter John Carlson and painting daily work on her studies from memory. Loriann is creating some really beautiful work and is inspiring to see her work unfold as she deals with the process. The other day she challenged her fellow readers to create a piece from memory (with a few guidelines in place so we don't cheat) and so I thought to try it too. I was surprised at what I came up with. As I was painting it I worked and re-worked the part that I remembered the most vividly; the bright sunlit edges of the cloud cover. I'm pretty happy with this experiment and may have to try this again. Today, I was working out at the gym and the west facing window has a row of trees that I memorized while I'm on the treadmill. I think I have looked at these trees a million times, but they looked different today. Hoping to put pastel to paper with this memory.