Impressionism in Colour: Generate Atmosphere and Depth With These Impressionist Painting Techniques

Impressionism in Colour: Generate Atmosphere and Depth With These Impressionist Painting Techniques

Those of you who read my last article which addressed the broad basics of contemporary impressionist painting will have noticed that I left out a very important section, that being colour. The use and control of colour is so important to the impressionist style I felt it deserved its own spot.

There are 3 things to consider when deciding on what paint to apply to the canvas.

These are,

1.The Colour itself in general terms (orange, brown, pink, grey etc)

2.It's Value which decides its intensity and contrast with neighbouring colours

3.It's Hue which is the weighting of the main spectrum colours in the mix (red, blue or yellow) *.

While you're deciding what colour value and hue to pick, it's worth remembering that colour can help you achieve 2 things.

1.You can create or exaggerate depth in your painting

2.Create a warm and/or cool atmosphere.

When you look at an impressionist painting you will notice that colour is used to great effect to generate emotion and atmosphere so taking a little time to consider what colours you are going to use will be rewarding.

So Near Yet So Far

Next time you're out in the countryside, look at a distant mountain. If the mountain is covered in trees or grass, what colour does the mountain appear to you? Yes, that's right; blue. We know it is actually green but yet it looks blue. The water vapour in the air turns most distant objects blue, or at least there is a blue hue in the colour. The distance also results in a less intense, more faded colour. So the outcome of this for the artist is that lighter cooler colours are used for distant objects such as light blues, turquoise, light greens, lemon yellow with possibly a hint of the actual colour mixed in there. Vary the intensity to create highlights and shadows. As you come forward use warmer colours such as cadmium orange, Indian red and cadmium yellow in the highlights and crimson, violet and burnt sienna in the shadows.

Importantly, you can use this natural outcome of distance to exaggerate the perception of depth in paintings that may not be all that deep' to start with. In a street scene the distant houses can have a blue hue or even in a bar scene you can use this technique to put objects that are not part of the main story (although are very close to the object of attention) slightly out of focus and into the background. Next time you look at one of Monet's paintings, look out for this and you'll see it. In fact most art styles use this technique except that in impressionist art, it's exaggerated to enhance the sentiment and passion the artist felt or wanted to convey while painting. If you get a grasp of this technique you're a long way to painting a picture people will feel drawn into.

Getting Hotter or Colder

Using colours based on their warmth' is not only a great way to help create the perception of depth but it helps bring life to shadows and highlights and is used to great effect in impressionist artwork. As with many painting, don't use black (there is very rarely a complete absence of light in any scene you would paint) and rarely use white alone. Consider that highlights are a reflection where either the colour of the reflecting surface will come out a bit and/or the colour of the light causing the reflection will have an influence. If there is a highlight in one of the shadows, maybe use torques , light blue or pale green. Shadows in the foreground will be warmer with purples, browns and crimson while in the distance they will generally be less intense and cooler with blues and greens. If you see a hint of purple in a shadow, go crazy with it. Even if you don't see it, try adding a bit and watch your painting sparkle to life.

The colour is as or more important to the atmosphere you are trying to create than the scene itself. It's a way to express your own emotion so have fun with the colours; exaggerate the colours throughout the painting; look for colour in shadows and with every stroke decide if it's a cool or warm part of the painting. Do try and maintain balance, the subject of my next article, with your use of colour and contrast and you'll be well away. And don't forget, if you enjoy yourself this will be clear to see in your painting and people looking at the painting will get a sense of that joy.

*Hue can be a bit tricky to imagine. Mixing grey provides a good example of how you can get warmth or coolness out of, well, grey. You can create grey in 3 ways not including mixing black and white since you shouldn't have black in your colour arsenal.

1 part blue + 1 part yellow + 2 parts red (+ white to taste) = warm reddish grey

1 part blue + 2 part yellow + 1 parts red (+ white to taste) = vibrant, light grey

2 part blue + 1 part yellow + 1 parts red (+ white to taste) = cool bluish grey

You'll notice it's really just one way except you add an extra portion of the colour you want to emphasize. You can do this when mixing all your colours, to bring out the hue (warmth or coolness) you want to build on.

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