How to Really See What You See

Published: Sat, 10/02/21

Dear ,

Even though I keep preaching keep your attention on what the image is made of, not the image itself, so many have a hard time with that. We are in a habit of focusing on the image and trying to make that image look like what it is.

RECYCLING AND REINFORCING

I addressed this in a post several years ago, but let's run a portion of it by again.

What do you see first when you look at this image?

Was your first response "apples"? If so, you are responding from your history with apples which includes what you've learned about them. But what if you had never seen an apple? Or leaves for that matter? How would your respond then?

Let's go a little deeper. What do you see in this image?

Do you find yourself looking for images? Do you see a face? (Watch out, I'm influencing you.) Once again we are referring to our history with images, a lot of which is what we've been told. Beyond that, it is natural for us to try to find something we recognize, That's how our brain is programmed, else we couldn't make sense of the world.

But this same survival skill often interferes with the one thing we most need as artists and that is the skill of looking beyond the image into what it is made of visually--the language of the image.

Pause, observe, ask...

What are the lines doing?

What are the colors doing?

What are the textures doing?

What are the shapes doing?

What are the values doing?

What are the sizes doing?

What are the directions doing?

These words are our artists' vocabulary. They focus our eyes on the visual stuff that things are made of. They guide us to see the way an artist sees. They enable us to see beyond the obvious into the possibilities.

By the way, the second image was lifted from the photo below and rotated vertically.

Enjoy a weekend of seeing like an artist sees!

Happy Painting,

Dianne

dianne@diannemize.com

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