Techniques in Impressionistic Paintings - My Personal Experience, AVR

Techniques in Impressionistic Paintings

 - My Personal Experience

Paintings by Dr Abe V Rotor

"Impressionism leaves much of what is to be said. For the mind is richer where it is left with space to explore, and meaning to seek." - avr

Mural (5 ft x 10 ft) acrylic. Repetition has a powerful effect - it serves as boundary yet gives a sense of depth a feeling the viewer is at the edge of a forest. The source of light however, is from inside the forest. Step 1: stretch canvas on 2"x 3"x 10' kiln dry lumber. Step 2: use white latex to seal canvas surface. Step 3: use palette for the trees. Step 4: dub premixed yellow and blue for vegetation. Step 5: details like flowers, sunbeam, and red to break monotony. Note: Don't use fixative, let the painting as is, just protect it from direct sunlight. - avr

"The richness I achieve comes from nature, the source of my inspiration." – Claude Monet

Acrylic painting on glass in three dimensions: seaweeds, fish and the deep. There is apparent movement, yet there is peace among the creatures living in co-existence. Step 1: dark background. Step 2: fish and other red colors. Step 3: seaweeds, transferred from separate impression. Step 4: details like air bubbles. Step 5: fixing with lacquer spray. Step 6: framing, or "edging" (liston) - avr

"The point is that any piece of Impressionism, whether it be prose, verse or painting, 

or sculpture, is the record of the impression." - F. S. Flint

Fiery flowers emerge from below to meet the sun, only to wither soon after the bees have done their chores. Wither, one by one, younger flowers succeeding, a cycle of life and life giving, progenies born one after another. How could you paint such a cycle but by impressionism? Impressionism leaves much of what is to be said. For the mind is richer where it is left with space to explore, and meaning to seek. It is not easy to depict a phenomenon on a single canvas when it takes immeasurable time and innumerable stages to complete. Step 1: start with the flowers, large and unarranged. Step 2: apply thick dark green and light green in ascendant strokes, heaviest at the base. Step 3: Add flowers at the center to give focus. Step 4: add light green ascendant lines as foliage. - avr

Along with the other Impressionists, Monet's aim in his painting was to capture reality and analyze the ever-changing nature of light and color.

Hazy, light and soft to the eye and touch. How is this done in contrast with the still life previously explained above? Here the colors used are first mixed with white on the palette, never on canvas. Choose the hues and keep the contrast low so that the boundaries are smudged, with pleasing effect. There is a tendency to end up with muddy appearance. Maintain restraint, give that "cloud nine" look. It fits well on a wall where peace and quiet reign. It invites relaxation. - avr

"For an Impressionist to paint from nature is not to paint the subject, 

but to realize sensations." - Paul Cezanne

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Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes, open composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage of time), ordinary subject matter, unusual visual angles, and inclusion of movement as a crucial element of human perception and experience. Impressionism originated with a group of Paris-based artists whose independent exhibitions brought them to prominence during the 1870s and 1880s. Internet