Memory has been on my mind since I finished Patient H.M.. H.M. was a very famous research subject because an operation on his brain that robbed him of his short-term memory. For example, if H.M. met a person and that person left the room and returned, H.M. would not remember the previous meeting.

One of the most compelling sections of the book was the epilog, in which the author describes an interview with an aged memory researcher. whose own memory had faded dramatically.

In the portrait below I present the visual equivalent of fading memory. A loaded paintbrush will release its paint during an artist’s stroke. A brilliant, vivid color will become less so as the stroke proceeds.

Fading with Time
9″x12″ 140# Cold Pressed Watercolor Block

In the visual metaphor for memory, time becomes the distance of the stroke and memory becomes the concentration of pigment transferred to the paper.

My portrait above is a rough ‘proof of concept’. More can be mined from this idea.