Tuesday, October 9, 2007

Monet's Thoughts on Painting

Reading in House's chapter "Buildup of the Paint Surface" the other night I came across a few of Monet's ideas on painting.
  • Sculpting: "Work on the whole picture together, to work all over or not at all." (Monet)
    • I came across this same idea in studying Sargent in January.
    • It is interesting to think of a drawing as a sculpture that you just slowly chip away at.
    • It seems to be a popular way of working in oils. It would work in acrylics or graphite. I'm not so sure that it would work with pen and ink or colored pencils.
  • Ebauche: Underpainting (grisaille is an underpainting in grey)
    • Monet did a quick underpainting (in multiple colors).
    • This practice was "determining at the outset the tonality of the whole." (Monet)
Some interesting ideas here, neither of them innovative, but interesting to find that the masters used techniques that are still recommended today.

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