LEAVING AN IMPRESSION: PAINTING TECHNIQUES
Impressionist art developed among artists based in Paris in the 19th century. They used a relatively consistent method of creating such distinct artwork. Remember that light effects played a major role in impressionist paintings. Take a look at these general guidelines to see how!
- The idea was to encompass the spirit of the object in its entirety, as opposed to the detailed factors.
- Artists brought their work to life, achieving the illusion of movement and impulsiveness with blunt paint strokes
- Impressionists have noted that they could make an object look more substantial, by applying a thick impasto of paint to it.
- They even lightened up their paint palettes a bit to include colors that were passionate, powerful and untainted; and they used more contemporary colors for bold contrasting features.
- “Hard edges” are a no-no in impressionist paintings.
- Contrary to the Renaissance artists, the Impressionists preferred an opaque surface for their work of art.
- Here’s an interesting one: these artist normally painted at a time of day when there were long shadows to help them show the light effects and the vivid colors more accurately in their paintings.
- Finally, they fancied “optical mixing” - a technique that used “broken color”. It includes things like blending colors optically (instead of blending them as normal on the palette), leaving gaps in top coats of paint in order to reveal underneath colors, mixing dark colors on the palette and bright colors on the canvas.
So many techniques! Are you an aspiring artist? Like these impressionist tips? Maybe you’d like to make an attempt at impressionist art? Well we've got the supplies you need! If you’re in Canada and you’re looking for art supplies then you have come to the right source. We’re Canada’s preferred provider of artist supplies. You can even get DVD training videos, like the famous Bob Ross DVDs from us too. Call us now – we've got what you need!
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