Most of my collectors are familiar with my technique of pointillism (painting with small dots), but for those of you who are new to my website or those who want more insight, I’ll share information about this method. But first, let me give you a little background.
Pointillism was not my technique of choice, actually it happened by accident. I will explain how this happened in a later blog. Since childhood I’ve been interested in realism, and my work was very tight and detailed. To loosen the tight detailed look, I disciplined myself to paint entirely with a palette knife. In my early paintings I employed a heavy impasto technique with the palette knife. The surface of the canvas was covered in thick texture using acrylic paint. I liked what was happening, but this highly textured paint with its ridges and valleys cast shadows and changed the look of the painting when photographed or printed.
So, I tried representational realism for awhile, painting almost photo realistic. This technique was not a challenge for me and I became somewhat bored. Pointillism is the perfect answer, it gives the painting surface a look of texture but allows itself to be reproduced into print without any serious problems. And, it gives me the freedom to juxtapose color upon color, with multiple layers of colored dots. When viewed from a distance, the colors blend to form a sharply realistic image, but when viewed up close it is a riot of color and the image is quite loose.
Pointillism is not easy, and is slow work. It takes me quite awhile to complete an original painting. Hours, and hours of applying small dots in layer upon layer is painstaking, but perfectly suited to fill my need for detail. The longer I use this technique, the more I find it a challenge. I will never be bored. My body will protest long before my mind does. The intense concentration needed to do this technique has caused multiple problems with tension in my neck, shoulders and arm. Fortunately I have an excellent physical therapist who knows how I work and has taught me different approaches to manage muscle tension.
Another dot painting. Please submit your questions about pointillism via the comment link, and I will be happy to respond.
Gail Niebrugge, Alaska Artist
