May 2015: Pointillism

Welcome to May!! For this month I decided that it was time for Pointillism. Have you heard that word before? Here is Wikipedia’s definition:

Pointillism /ˈpɔɪntɨlɪzəm/ is a technique of painting in which small, distinct dots of color are applied in patterns to form an image. Georges Seurat and Paul Signac developed the technique in 1886, branching from Impressionism.

Since we are in an electronic world these days where our television screens and computer screens are all judged by how many pixels it has, I thought that we could create images making our own pixels to create Pointillism.

One example I stumbled across while investigating this interesting subject was a picture of a tree without any leaves. I’m sure most of us have a tree stamp that we use for our Winter cards. The person did Pointillism – dot for dot – and made the entire rest of the scene by merely making dots. Here’s the link to the picture I’m talking about:

Stampin-Style

As you can see, the only stamped images on the card are the words and the base tree. All the rest of the scene is done by making dots.

Here is another example of Pointillism. This one doesn’t use dots but uses a repetitive pattern to make an image:

Dragon Shooting Star by Kim Kimura

That one is from Fine Art America and is a dragon made with Asian writing.

This one is beautifully done with dots – again from the Fine Art America and is a scene of a forest with water.

Sacred Place by Chris Degenhardt

Be sure and tab left and right through the different pictures on Pointillism for inspiration at the Fine Art America site.

Here are some videos on Pointillism you can see as well for ideas. The last one is painting but it gives some interesting information about the starting of Pointillism and how she transfers an image to her canvas (paper in our case if you want to do that).

Pointillism demonstration/tutorial Pt 1 “Blooming Apple Tree” – YouTube – in Russian but you get the idea

Pointillism – YouTube from Splitcoaststampers

Tuesday Tutorial | Marker Technique–Pointillism – YouTube – A college student

Before Pointillism, artists would mix two colors on their pallet to create a color. For instance they would mix red and blue to create purple on their pallet and then apply it to their canvas. But with Pointillism, the artist instead applies the two colors separately to their canvas in tiny dots and give the impression of purple.

Have fun with this month’s Technique Challenge – Pointillism.