When doing a seascape painting I sometimes use impasto technique. I do it lightly, looking for kick, instead of slapping on the paint like a drunken five span old. I further use this technique with scenery paintings, and sometimes, depending on the type of pet, pet paintings.
Impasto is when you layer on the oil, often dawn thick chunks and swirls on the canvas. Overused, it is like paper mache, and one has to query what fulcrum one is wholly using to voluntary with. Used lightly, it tends to give hints and flavors of depth.
There is actually nothing incorrect about over using the technique, it really is a matter of what the artist prefers. There are some people who like to create shadows with the colors they use. Then there are others who don ' t like shading colors and prefer the actual three dimensional effect given by thick impasto.
This three dimensional effect can work two ways. Obviously, there is little 3 - D when one snaps a photo, what you see is the flat facts. But when one layers on the impasto seascape paintings tend to have so much more versatility than seascape photos.
Layer on the white, and suddenly you get a foamy effect, and the person viewing the artwork has the feeling that a wave is actually cresting. Apply the blue / green oil in swirls and one can see the little circles within a subtle riptide. This gives a feeling of motion that can actually make one dizzy.
As you change the depth of the layer you can actually create shadows. You have to be careful with this because a bright light in an art show can cancel out the feeling of depth and leave the viewer with a flat feeling. Obviously, there is going to be no shadow, no feeling of motion, and impasto will have failed.
The technique for applying impasto is quite interesting. There are people that prefer to do put their impasto on with a knife instead of a brush, and they wield their tools like sculptors, searching for ways to blend with the effective painting technique. Most people prefer a variety of sturdy brushes and these people often focus on color rather than the thickness of the oil.
As you can tell from certain of my works, I like to blend color with depth, thus using two techniques to create motion in the painting. If I can create motion, then a feeling of life will emanate from the painting. I can take a featureless photo of the sea, and utilizing impasto and proper coloring, create a whole universe of motion in my seascape painting.
