Learning to see

Claude Monet said: “To see we must forget the name of the thing we are looking at. When you go out to paint, try to forget what objects you have before you – a tree, house, a field….Merely think, here is a little square of blue, here an oblong of pink, here a streak of yellow, and paint it just as it looks to you, the exact color and shape, until it gives your own naive impression of the scene before you.”

That’s great advice, and is what I did here in this sketch. One shape painted against another, without drawing first. It’s a great way to learn to see what is in front of you. You have to look carefully, not at things, but at shapes, colours and values, and then paint what you see.

I’ve just completed a video for Artefacto using this technique of seeing and painting shapes, and it works! Just paint one shape to get started and then add others alongside it, using your first shape as a reference for size and colour. It’s a bit like doing a jigsaw puzzle. Piece-by-piece the picture comes together.

This technique also allows you to paint in hot countries where watercolour dries too fast on the paper. You only have to paint a small section at a time, so there is no worrying about the washes drying to fast. You can even stop for a cuppa between shapes!

So, if you have not tried this technique before, then give it a go! It really is easy, and I am sure it is something that we all need to learn. Seeing shapes and not “things” allows us to paint what is really there, not what our brains try and tell us is there. That should lead to better paintings!

Have fun!

ps. my online course with Artefacto is still being written (painted) and I hope will be available in a short while. I’ll let you know when 🙂

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