2. Super Impasto PA I N T S U R F A C E S
Our former Artists of the Year winner Norman Long continues his look at how to create interesting surface textures with a guide to a thicker form of impasto painting
O RIGHT Arjun, oil on canvas, 51x51cm 74 Artists
ne of the biggest obstacles to creating a great surface is a reluctance to use generous amounts of paint. This month’s challenge should shock you out of any restricting habits. I am suggesting that you use frightening amounts of paint, more than you have ever used before. I often ask my students to test the limits of their taste in painting. How much strong colour before your stomach turns? Can you make some really ugly brushstrokes and leave them in? That push to excess extends
& Illustrators
to paint quantity. What may look like frightening mounds of paint to you or I would be mere stains to someone like George Rowlett, the Scottish impasto artist. There are certain obstacles to this approach, not least of which is the cost of oil paint. If you get hooked on this technique, I suggest searching online for the best price on large tubes of inexpensive paint, such as those from Winsor & Newton’s Winton range. Oil painters have also devised ingenious ways of saving paint from one session to the next, the rationale being that if you never waste any
