The Artist's Picture
When an artist seats himself before a new canvas he knows definitely what he is going to place upon it. He either has a model before him, or in his mind's eye sees a beautiful picture. He will give weeks, months, or even years of effort in order to place upon that canvas a picture equal in perfection and beauty to the one which he sees.
Notice that a mind's eye picture is often the starting point of the artist. He strives to place upon the canvas the reproduction of the idea which he sees in his mind. He finishes and exhibits his work; you look upon the picture with your physical eye and through its agency the result of the artist's effort becomes a picture-impression upon your brain. You see what he saw, and the longer you gaze at the painting and the greater amount of detail you perceive, the more vivid it becomes and the stronger the impression upon your mind, therefore, the more perfect the memory of the picture. This is true of your own mind's eye picture for memory purposes.
The more detail you see in your memory pictures and the longer you continue to visualize them, the stronger their impression.