Painting From Memory

Sometimes I have to rely on my memory when creating a painting, rather then relying on physical references.

A couple of weeks ago my brother and his wife urged me to take a look at a moody sky they just spotted while driving home. Their description sounded intriguing so I drove off to a parking lot to take a look. It was around
7 p.m. when I looked toward the west and observed some very dark and slightly lighter cloud formations tinted with warm and cool purples. This grouping of storm clouds was juxtaposed with creamy streaks of open sky. The sky looked surreal. It was one of those moments when the sky didn’t look like a sky at all, but rather a design.

Because it was so late, I couldn't expect my camera to record the subtle color conditions I was experiencing nor could I sketch anything effective enough in the dark. So I stood there for 15 minutes watching the sky fade away into darkness. Later on that evening I recorded my experienced and made some small oil studies.

I enjoyed the simplicity and mood of this fleeting moment and plan on painting some variations of it in 2008.