Palette Knife Paintings, Impressionism and Broken Color

I like to use my palette knives when I paint. They really load the paint on and encourage you to be bold! Sometimes if I have an interesting photo I will hone my palette knife skills by trying to do the entire painting with a knife. I don't usually try it with paintings of people but I did today. Using the palette knife causes you to use a lot more paint than you normally would but you also end up with cleaner, purer color and many times, a more interesting painting because the textures and the colors mix optically. It can be a joy to view! Think of Monet and the lily pads he loved to paint. They were not just green, they were fantastic mixtures of yellow and violet and orange and somehow we see them as brilliant and fascinating shades of green.

Art should engage and sometimes you need to step out of your comfort zone for that to happen. We know that is true of life, so why not art? If you ate the same food every day you would eventually tire of it and grow to hate it, even if that food was chocolate. :)  If you go to church every Sunday and the preacher preaches the exact same text and message without varying one sentence you would quickly find another church. The creamy sauce of a perfectly seasoned Chicken Alfredo is delicious, but so is the crisp sweetness of a ripe grape. Different is GOOD and variety is good too, whether it comes in the scriptures we read, the food we eat or the art we make. Creating textures and colors where you might not expect to find them can definitely add interest and excitement to your art, while opening your own eyes to new ways of creating. I enjoyed the entire process of creating this piece so it's likely I will do another, and possibly even a series.

Many thanks to an artist friend, Tim Taylor, for allowing me to use his photo of Maria.

Maria 11" x 14" oil on canvas

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