Impasto Technique Exploration
“My business is to paint what I see, not what I know is there.” — J.M.W. Turner
Envision
In thinking about this week's challenge to stretch my style by trying out new media and techniques, I began looking for images that would jive with the thick, textural approach of impasto painting. At first I focused on two images from a wedding this spring, which were fun to explore with some small studies, but I was easily distracted by good old Instagram and fell in love with the image taken by a friend while visiting Maine. The sky had me hooked, and the depth of the piece presented some great opportunities to lay on some thick paint!
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Stretch and Explore
The studies this week really helped me narrow down what I was most interested in pursuing as a final painting. The garden scene still intrigues me, but it was hard to work out some of the building features on such a small canvas board. The addition of a flexible modeling paste and fluid matte medium in all of my work this week helped in the development of the heavy texture I was looking for. I really enjoy the modeling paste, pushing you to work in a swift and responsive way.
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Engage and Persist
“A painting requires a little mystery, some vagueness, and some fantasy. When you always make your meaning perfectly plain you end up boring people.” – Edgar Degas This quote from Degas resonated with me during this week's adventures. With Kipp Sky #1 the painting was to a point where I wanted so badly to leave it alone . . . but wasn't completely satisfied. So . . . I reached out to Professor Meneses for an in-progress critique and her insights were spot on and a game changer for the piece! The notion of "leaving air" in the painting is something I had heard before, but never really intentionally applied to my own work. I tend to want to provide resolution in too many parts of the work, and often sacrifice, as Degas says, a little mystery or vagueness.
Through pondering this idea of leaving space in the painting I began to realize how much I am drawn to artworks that allow me to find the resolution in my own way. I am a huge fan of Jenny Saville's figurative work -- the sweeping, confident brushwork, filled with energy, chaos, and power balanced with areas of resolution and focus -- captivating and engaging! Putting Professor Meneses's advice into action, I put my first painting aside and began working on more than one piece. Click on the images to see how things progressed. |
Kipp Sky #1
Kipp Sky #2: Small Study
Kipp Sky #3
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Share and Reflect
Kipp Sky acrylic 9" x 12"
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Well, thank you Sarah Kipp for snapping such an inspiring image! This was so much painful fun to engage in and I love the way it pushed me to contemplate the choices I make in the process. In my work I strive to put a pause button on fleeting, ephemeral moments within the natural world, to capture a familiar sense of awe and wonder.
Though there are a few spots in the foreground that are still troubling me, I feel like this is a great spot for this piece to live. Working with the modeling paste and pallet knives adds to the energy of the scene, and the nature of the medium forces a certain level of confidence that is quite liberating. One thing about this process that I will share with my AP Studio Art crew is that it requires A LOT of trail and error . . . sort of a dance back and forth between the values, the edges, and the positive and negative spaces. However, as I like to say to the learners -- the more you do it, the better you get. |