Learning to paint realistically relies on understanding how we see and perceive the world we live in.

It is through our sense of sight that we know our world.

Our vision helps us in two particular ways to navigate and understand the world. First, our vision helps us discern and interpret the world by enhancing our sense of touch. We see an object and even before picking the object up and holding it, we can tell by sight alone whether the object is hard and smooth, hard and rough, soft and smooth, or soft and fluffy, and so on. We can also often determine by sight alone what the object is made of. Our vision is integral in helping us navigate the world and decide how things will feel before we ever physically encounter them.

Secondly, we use vision to help us understand our world through the emotive quality that visual impressions spark in our mind and emotions. When we view a scene or landscape, we respond emotionally at a subconscious level. Vision has the power to evoke strong emotion in all of us.

The power of vision to connect us with our surroundings through a strong sense of touch and a strong emotional response is, in my opinion, the reason why representational art is so appealing and so powerful.

Art that stimulates the reasoning part of our mind while simultaneously activating our emotional responses, is art that touches all aspects of what it means to be human.

Here is an exercise to integrate the two ways we use vision:

Create a still-life setup and incorporate two to three items with different materials and textures. Then before you begin painting, think about the feelings these items evoke in you. Focus on that feeling, think about it, and ask yourself if you can heighten that feeling while you paint. It is my belief that just thinking about the feelings you want to inspire and express while painting will be expressed in the painting.

See if you can minimize all the thoughts about how you are going to paint the objects (the technique and brushwork stuff), and emphasize the emotional feelings you have towards the still-life setup. After you finish the painting, it may not be obvious, however even the most subtle shift towards melding the observational and emotional feelings while painting can really heighten the finished painting.

Also, because I love to learn from books, here are some books or sections of books I have read that have influenced my thoughts about vision and perception.

Design Drawing by Francis D.K. Ching

This is one of my favorite books from my architecture days. One little note on page 83 sent me down the rabbit hole of thinking about vision and how it influences our perception of the world.

The Perception of the Visual World by James Jerome Gibson

I was inspired to search out this book because its mentioned in the Francis Ching’s book Design Drawing.

This is the seminal book regarding how our mind interprets the world through our sense of sight. An amazing and wonderful topic. Several years ago I spent an entire day reading through this book as fast as I could at the Library of Congress. I don’t own the book, I have only read it checked out, I would love to have it in my own library, but it is impossible to find for less than $90.

Drawing and Perceiving by Douglas Cooper

I discovered this book while I was still practicing architecture and toying with the idea of leaving that career. This was the first book of self-study that I used to improve my perspective drawing skills. I loved all the assignments in the book, and went through several of them.

Of special note, there is an entire chapter dedicated to Gibson’s work on perception and the textural gradient. If you are interested in studying this topic through a more hands-on approach, this is the book for you.

Isn’t this cool? An entire chapter on the ideas of James J. Gibson! And how we can interpret and draw a three dimensional space on a two dimensional surface.

A very helpful skill to master if you want to learn how to paint realistically.