Impressionist Painting Project

Grade 12 Visual Art 2008
Acrylic Painting Project
Instructor: Peter Marsh

After studying the Impressionist movement you are now aware of a number of the main characteristics that described their painting approach:

Bright and cheerful colors.Visible dashing brushstrokes.Contemporary subject matter.Open-air painting.Analysis of light effects.Awareness of optical color mixing.Analysis of reflections and refraction.Emphasis on colour rather than formIntimate scenes of everyday lifeAnd one should also add, characteristics of 'Japanese Prints',those being: angular viewpoints, flatness, familiar views, and stylized rendering.

Use the above information in order to approach a painting in the Impressionist manner. Choose a contemporary scene that you think may have inspired the Impressionists and use it to create your own painting using their methodology.

You'll be painting using acrylic paint. If you have never used this medium before, you will find that it is water soluble only when it is wet. So it is extremely important to make sure that you keep your brushes wet, and wash them out immediately after painting, using soap and water. Failure to do so will mean that the paint will dry and become indissoluble in water and will ruin the brushes.

It is likely that you will be painting on masonite board, as opposed to canvas because this is a cheaper approach for the amateur. The board will be prepared either by covering it with gesso or some type of latex paint to seal the surface. In applying the gesso or the latex the paint should be thinned so that the surface remains reasonably un-textured. Again, it is important to wash this type of paint out of the brushes immediately after use.

In order to create your composition you should do a number of sketches which experiment with the placement of people and objects. Remember to keep in mind major dynamic points, the rule of thirds, and other elements and principles of design that we have discussed in our art history periods.

Once you have finished design sketches you may transfer your composition onto the masonite board using pencil. After this it is useful to do a little ‘under painting’ on the board to get started, which, in general, is a matter of creating a dark and light version of the work using fairly neutral colors. When using acrylic paint, one should be careful not to put dark colours beneath areas where you are going to expect light paint. Acrylic paint is more transparent than oil paint, and so this is an important consideration in the expectation of vibrant looking colours. Acrylic paints were not available when the Impressionists were painting, so they used oil paint, which contains more pigment and is more opaque.

You should paint using an easel, either a desk easel or standup easel, because you will need to stand back from your work fairly often in order to see what you are doing.

In approaching a painting about light it is important to know that highlights only show up in the painting when every other area is less intense than the highlight. Once you understand this important point it then becomes apparent that every section of the canvas has to be painted in order to display a full range of values that range from shadows to highlights.

Good luck with your painting!