See like An Artist

Someone who sees in this special way that artists see can look at a collection of buildings and see a design, become entranced by a pattern of light and shadow.

The greater your ability to see in this way, the more you will be able to look at something and see a picture. The better your ideas for pictures will be. And your life will be enriched with the simple pleasure of seeing. Honestly, it’s worth it just for that.

In exactly the same way that a practising table tennis player develops blindingly fast reaction times through repeatedly trying to hit small, extremely fast moving balls, in the same way that muscles build through repeated use, artists develop this ability to see differently through using it.

What’s really happening is that our eyes are taking in the same visual impression as people who don’t see this way, but we’re processing it differently. Instead of simply looking and thinking “tree”, we’re also seeing the shapes between the branches. The contrast of the leaves against the sky. The shape of the tree in relation to the shapes around it, and in relation to a picture in our mind’s eye.We’re seeing “tree”, but our brains are thinking “design”.