As the once warm colored trees become stripped from their autumn leaves and the cool air grows more chilling, the idea of winter seems less appealing. Though many people, including myself, prefer the warm vibrant seasons over the chilly winter, these preferences often cause people to overlook the beauty of nature during the seemingly dull times of year.
To counter my tendency of disregarding the outdoors’ small details during the winter season I decided to venture over to Memorial Park and produce my own attempt at an impressionist painting, as I am researching impressionism for an english paper and would like to include this aspect of impressionism in my paper as well as share it with others. In order to accurately produce an impressionistic painting I must implement techniques used by impressionist painters. One common approach to impressionism is known as the French word plein air and refers to painting outdoors using the scenery as a reference for the painting. To apply the plein air method to my painting I took a walk to Memorial Park and used a brown wash of oil paint, the most common media of impressionism paintings, to sketch the landscape I was looking at. Unfortunately, November’s chilly weather forced me back inside, so I took a picture of the landscape and headed indoors with my brown wash covered painting. After I sketched the layout of my painting I used a technique called mixing and diffusion which the website Impressionists Techniques describes as mixing wet paint with another color of wet paint to enhance the lighting and soften the edges of the painting. My application of mixing and diffusion can most clearly be seen with the soft contrast of colors in the trees and grass. Additionally, Impressionists Techniques also describes another method of painting referred to as dry brushing, where a small amount of paint is applied over different colors leaving gaps and revealing the previous layer of color in the painting. My use of the dry brushing technique was most evident with the contrast of light in the clouds, though I did utilize dry brushing with the highlights in the trees as well.
Though I’m certainly no Monet or Renoir, painting can still help me cultivate an appreciation for nature’s scenery during this time of year. Through looking back at the process of producing my own impressionist painting I found a greater appreciation for impressionist painters and their attention to detail and focus that goes into this style of painting. For instance, when I tried painting en plein air, though the chilly weather was my main concern, the shift of the sun requires these artists to work swiftly in order to capture the landscape in accurate lighting. While my experience with this painting helped me admire these artists’ abilities to work swiftly, I was also able to notice features of Memorial Park I hadn’t recognized before. For example, the variety of colors in the trees stood out to me because I didn’t realize how some of the leaves appeared purple from a distance while others remained green even though the late November weather should’ve turned the trees into reds and yellows. So while the chilly weather certainly isn’t my favorite part about this time of year, this painting process provided me with the opportunity to take in the many overlooked, but beautiful aspects of the park in late November.
