I used to be a small-time painter during my school days. There was a next door girl (6 years older J) who used to my Guru. Mostly I imitated her and other’s paintings. I had to fight with my parents to buy different types of brushes; I saw oil paint only when she gifted to me her set when they left town. I remember some drawings still – some rajastani traditional women, goddess Lakshmi with a tilted head ;) et al. But given the nomads we were (my dad worked in Tamil Nadu government), we lost all the 20 some drawings in transfer between homes. Then came the 10th standard which dropped a full stop to all my creative activities.
Why do I suddenly remember this?
Hmmm… I was off to London last week to visit the Cognizant London office and the Country manager. I had a quick presentation/discussion with him for an hour in the morning, after which I had the day to spend in London before I returned to Oxford. I was roaming around and stumbled upon the National art gallery near Leicester Square, Central London.
I was very happy I visited this place. It had hundreds of art works (I mean, real art works, not miniatures/replicas) arranged in sections 1500-1600, 1600-1700, etc. I had known and appreciated modern artists (1900+). When I visited this section it was a real learning experience, you could really appreciate these artists, their thought process and their painting techniques only when you see the picture so near.
Impressionism
Impressionism was a 19th century art movement that began as a loose association of Paris-based artists. In impressionism, short, thick strokes of paint are used to quickly capture the essence of the subject, rather than its details. Rather than drawing it all, it gives an “impression” to the viewer.
You could see the difference in the pictures below. The first one (Art name: WishtleJacket) is a conventional painting and the second (Artist: Edgar) is painted using impressionist technique.
A few famous arts I explored are from world-famous artists including Claude Monet, Camille Pissarro and Pierre-Auguste Renoir.
Pointillism
Pointillism is a style of painting in which small distinct points of primary colors create the impression of a wide selection of secondary colors. For example, instead of using green paint, they would drop two dots of yellow and blue together - and you get the "impression". The result is sometimes described as brighter or purer since the eye does the mixing and not the brush. (Brilliant, isn't it?)
You could see the difference in the picture below (artist: Seurat). This one is painted using Pointillism technique.
Pointillism
Pointillism is a style of painting in which small distinct points of primary colors create the impression of a wide selection of secondary colors. For example, instead of using green paint, they would drop two dots of yellow and blue together - and you get the "impression". The result is sometimes described as brighter or purer since the eye does the mixing and not the brush. (Brilliant, isn't it?)
You could see the difference in the picture below (artist: Seurat). This one is painted using Pointillism technique.
The gallery also had a long sequence of Vincent van Gogh pictures. Well, it was a great experience and I spent an unplanned 4 hours there before my stomach pushed me to go home. I would say, even if you do not know much, go to such exhibitions and galleries; you would slowly be able to appreciate their techniques.
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