Little bits of color, Big impressions.

Season Finale painting, color and brush stroke detail ©2018 

I've always been inspired by the impressionist painters. It's not just because they caused a big stir in the 1860's French art scene by going against the centuries old painting traditions of the Academy of Fine Arts. I didn't know anything about their painting "rebellion" until I went to college. I certainly wouldn't have guessed that using primary colors directly on the canvas, choosing to leave your brush strokes visible, and painting outside to record scenes from everyday life was controversial. I just loved the colors and the sense of light that sparkled across the canvases of Claude Monet. 
 

Claude Monet, Woman with a Parasol - Madame Monet and Her Son
1875, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
images from Wikipedia

Claude Monet, Haystacks, (sunset), 1890–1891, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Of course, admiring a beautiful style of painting doesn't translate into being able to actually paint in that style. It's been years since I have tried, but I've decided to attempt it again. 

For me, part of the puzzle is learning how to break down the color I am seeing into little pieces and then having the restraint to paint those small bits as individual brush strokes. This has always seemed overwhelming to me, but I recently came up with a solution. I used an effect on my computer to "crystallize" my reference photo to help me focus on those little bits of color.
 

Season Finale photo "crystallized" ©2018 Tina M.Welter

Perhaps some folks will think this is cheating, but for me, it feels like using training wheels on a bike. I know practicing this skill will alleviate my overwhelm now and hopefully make it possible for me to become more confident painting this way.

So far, this strategy is working quite well. I've been able to get the basic colors and shapes down a lot faster than usual. Compare my first day painting to what I accomplished only eight painting days later.

Season Finale, 36x48 inches - first painting day ©2018

Season Finale, 36x48 inches - eighth painting day ©2018

About 1/4 of the right side isn't completely covered with the first layer of paint, you can still see the white canvas showing through. Once I get all of the canvas covered, I'm going to try refining the shapes with more complementary colors and smaller brush strokes. 

The Impressionists wanted to capture the effects of light by not blending and shading colors smoothly on the canvas. They experimented with placing small brush strokes of primary colors and their complements together in such a way that the eye of the viewer does the color mixing instead. It's an ambitious goal and I think of it as one of those beautifully creative ideas that was perhaps a first step towards making the technology of television and computer screen pixels that we are familiar with today.

If you are interested in reading more about how the Impressionism movement began, who was in it and what the painting techniques were, this Wikipedia entry is really helpful. Click here


Happy learning and creating!

>^-^<
Tina