Scott LeGendre

How very similar you and Syber are to me.  I can spell pretty good by writing it out (it's the visual pattern I recognize, not the letters generally) but it is almost impossible for me to spell anything complicated in the 'air' (like a spelling bee).   It *is* like a one way matching system!  When I developed software, it was very difficult to compete  with other top developers (but compete I did) because memory is the coin of the realm.  When coding, I always had to work with my short term stack memory (7-9 slots) to accomplish specific tasks complemented by frequently coming up for 'air' (looking at the call sequences, etc) to see where I was in a bigger sense in the code since I can't visualize it.  I had some health issues in my 50s that ended up damaging my short term stack (one, two or three have become unreliable - I can't really tell and it seems to come and go with anxiety levels) and thus I retired, leading me into...art. Most interesting this art - I started drawing a year and a half ago - so I have somewhat of a fresh perspective on how I create it mentally.  I know what a picture is *not*.  If I try to call to mind something, say and Elephant, I see a large dark oval shape.  No, two.  There's also a long trunk.  Curly tail.  Wait, it has ears and the are large... I can't see these (gray fuzzy, no color but the idea of a color) but I can recognize corners and pockets - simple shapes - so I can draw each of those individual things.  It's the overall composition my brain can't come up with but as I put the pieces down I know when they are not 'right' (generally that is, I'm pretty stubborn about not using a reference [for just this mind stretching reason] until the end or I don't have [or it shifts] a mental shape. I feel like I threw a lot of words at this but you and Syber actually have a better description.  It's just nice to hear other people's experiences and coping mechanisms.