You may have read the title and felt rather confused at what it means. As for me, I immediately thought of pasta and the chances that I was going to read about pasta in an art history book seemed very low. So, I knew that this was clearly incorrect. You could say that I wasn't so far-off as it is an Italian term ... but I know that this is just me being very smug.
The term originates from impastre (to knead) and translates 'to paste'. It refers to a technique whereby paint is applied thickly onto a surface. The build-up of such layers allows the visible brushstrokes to project from the surface - something that was frowned upon for many years. Its disapproval could arise from how it differs greatly to Realism - an artistic movement developed in the mid nineteenth century. The Realism movement is well-known for its overuse of natural colours and smooth brushstrokes to illustrate everyday subjects, the daily life of 'peasants, workers and rural and urban locations'. Whilst the concept of everyday scenes remains popular in many artwork today, it is the way in which these paintings appear photographic that enables it to remain a source of understanding history. By just entering Impasto and Realism into the search bar, I could instantly note how the methods of using mediums such as paint is constantly changing.
I'm sure many of you have seen this painting before and can tell that it is one of Vincent Van Gogh's paintings. The technique, impasto, is largely associated with his artwork and observing the painting above has helped me to understand why.
The brushstrokes are short and despite the evident layers of paint, it comes across as light and delicate. I feel this is predominately due to the calmness brought by multiple tones of blue. This reminds me of how colour psychology - the ability of colour to create emotions - comes into play. The overlapping of these brushstrokes not only allows the swirls to stand out but creates a sense of movement. It is as if we are compelled to feel that gust of wind. It's interesting how the use of white and yellow enhances this motion and allows the surrounding blues to shine brightly.
This painting was completed during Vincent Van Gogh's stay at a mental asylum and it demonstrates his view from his window. Regardless of painting this view 21 times, at different times of the day, the sceneries illustrated were dissimilar to that around the asylum. This finding speaks for his great imagination and shares how he could have used painting as method of escaping into his own world and his attempts to recover from mental illness.
The swirling lines and bright colours around the moon and stars demonstrates how the intensity of light decreases from the source and appreciating this brings us back to reality. This is an example of where the painting technique, impasto, creates an opportunity for us to search for elements of reality - which could have or have not been done intentionally by the artist. This evidently contrasts with Realism, as the artists aims to provide an exact representation of the subject.
Observing The Starry Night (1889) built a slight craving for painting and motivated me to focus on movement and colour as opposed to precision. I had also decided to use my photographs from last week as a reference for this painting. To focus on these aspects and to become more familiar with the shapes within the flowers, I started producing a sketch of a section from the photograph.
I tend to avoid using pastels within my artwork, as I have found myself unimpressed with my previous outcomes incorporating this medium. However, I realised how pastels can encourage me to test ideas quickly and get a feel for how colours can be arranged within the painting. And this time, I appreciated the way I used pastels to form a variation of single marks and exaggerated lines, which then magnifies both the colours and size of the petals. It was then I started to see how my ongoing experimentation with left-handed and blind drawings is helping me become familiar with the concept of disproportion and therefore, detaching from chasing perfection in my artwork. And this feels like a huge achievement.
The next few images give a glimpse of how I went about my painting.
By taking photographs along the way, I was able to take some time to step away from the painting. This then helped me notice how the space around the flowers and leaves appeared relatively flat - regardless of having used layers of paint to build moving lines. I was eager to change this. So, I started adding thin layers of green and yellow, and additional strokes of white paint to reinforce the streams of wind in the background.
I also saw how the colours within two of the flowers seemed relatively dull. I soon identified that the butterscotch yellow was missing within these flowers and so made a quick decision to incorporate this colour!
The photographs above demonstrate where I implemented changes in colour. As I completed this, I recognised how much I enjoy using layers of paint to place colours such as yellow and magenta directly against each other. Since, this allows the flowers to appear dynamic and therefore, creates a lively atmosphere.
Exaggerating the thin and broader lines to depict the flowers and leaves respectively made me feel content, as I found myself using my imagination more as opposed to observation for this piece. This sort of relaxation involved with the process of this painting reminded me of how I felt during my walk last week. So, ultimately, I feel this that this painting is a great representation of these feelings - regardless of how dissimilar it is to my photograph!
Let me know in the comments of what you think of this painting and if you think I should do more of these! :)
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