“I don’t paint what I see, I paint what I saw.” Edvard Munch

This admonition seems the opposite of the standard adage of “paint what you see, not what you think you see,” or so it seems. But possibly they both have a bit of wisdom.

Our brain is great at filling in blanks and interpreting. As sketchers we can quite easily sabotage our efforts by over thinking about what we are looking at, so the advice to just paint what you see, free from a lot of analysis is good advice.

Ever since we visited the Munch Museum in Oslo, and my friend Lisa gave me a tote with the Munch quote on it, I have pondered what Much was thinking. At this point I take it to mean painting how the scene touched you, not attempting to create a photo replica of what you see. Also don’t try to paint it the same way another artist painted it, paint it the way you saw it.

I think Erin Hill from Australia gets this concept. She paints buildings and landscapes with wonderfully free colors, expressing how the scene touched her. She does not over analyze, and she paints what she saw in the moment. Be sure to visit her site and check out her workshops.

I hope you are getting a chance to sketch and paint, and as always I love to hear from you and see your work.