Around the World in 80 Paintings?

So it seemed like my 'blow you away week' wasn't finished with me when I wrote my last post on Thursday. By the end of this weekend, I will have sold 9 paintings, sent one off as a belated present and decided to keep one for myself as I realised I would be lost without it. Plus it fits in my house so well that I don't know what I would put there when/if it gets sold.

Horseshoe Bend, you are mine.

My parents visited me this weekend for the first time since 1853, and it was nice to have an excuse to get all my paintings out and show them off. (Maybe I do need to get off my backside and start taking them to art exhibitions/shows/sales events (my paintings not my parents!!)). 

I realised something when I was telling my Dad where the inspiration for a particular painting came from; That when I paint a memory, the painting becomes the memory. When I think back to the time I was at Horseshoe Bend for instance, I can't really remember the place, I can just see this painting. The same goes for all my paintings of the Grand Canyon. I don't know why this surprises me but I suppose I wasn't expecting the painting to eradicate or replace the real thing. The paintings are obviously a much stronger representation of the place, feelings and experience I had than either my memory or a photograph. This must be why people tell me they can feel what I do - feel the cold wind, the warm sunrise, the still air, or whatever I have painted, because that is what I am doing. Distilling a memory. That is why I always think it is better if I paint places I have visited, as they are 'purer' representations. I can get the same things from photos, I never use just one for inspiration, but a selection that speak to me so that I can try and get a feel for the place, but still, it can't replace the feeling of actually being there. 

Time to put my travel hat on....