As Artists, in our struggle to recreate what we see and feel, we are often guided by the inspiration of some of the great masters of the past, as well as many painters working today. In my personal experience, I have found the life of Camille Pissarro, the 19th Century French Impressionist, of great influence.
He was, like many of us, constantly searching for a solution to his methods of representing nature, and this allowed him to reassess his work in the light of those around him.
There is a distinct change in the styles and methods used by Pissarro in his paintings throughout his life. His early works of the 1860's owed much to Corot and the naturalism and expressive brushwork of Courbet, while his later works of the 1880's were in a structured style in keeping with other Neo-impressionists, such as Seaurat and Signcac, who had been working towards a new scientific based theory of art, with the use of small patched or dots of pure colour placed side by side to build a picture, which are then optically blended by the eye.
Every time I embark on the adventure of a new painting, the following words written by Pissarro in a letter to a young painter continue to inspire me:
"Look for the kind of nature that suits your temperament. The motif should be observed more for the shape and colour than for drawing ... Don't work bit by bit, but paint everything at once, placing tones everywhere ... Cover the canvas at the first go and then work until you see nothing more to add. Observe the aerial perspective well, from foreground to the horizon, the reflections of the sky, of foliage. Don't be afraid of putting on colour, refine the work little by little. Don't proceed according to rules and principles, but paint what you observe and feel ... Don't be timid in the presence of nature; one must be bold at the risk of being deceived and making mistakes. One must have only one teacher - Nature; she is the only one to be consulted."
As we move closer to the Millennium, we can combine the vision of the past masters with our own interpretation of what we as individuals feel that a painting should be, and it is reassuring to know that we have at our disposal an adaptable and resilient medium such as acrylics.
Katy Kianush
Published October 1997 in the "Forum",
The journal of the National Acrylic Painters' Association
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Copyright © 2004 K. Kianush, Art Arena