Paint from memory, not only from the photograph

Write before looking again

Choose a place you remember and write three words about its atmosphere. They might describe temperature, movement, light or sound: warm, enclosed, echoing. Those words become the brief for the painting.

Build the first wash from memory

When the reference returns, use it to correct one structural issue rather than to fill every gap.

• Mix one dominant colour and one quieter companion.
• Paint the largest direction or movement first.
• Add two recognisable details only.
• Let the page dry before opening the photograph.

Notice what the mind kept

The omitted details are useful information. Perhaps the remembered shadow matters more than the window frames, or the vertical feeling of trees more than individual branches. That selection is the beginning of a personal visual language.