Flower Study: Surrealist Acrylic and Impasto Painting

Using a combination of acrylic paint and a texturized, impasto medium on a 24" x 36" canvas board, this painting deconstructs our perception of the human form, both fusing it with and constructing it out of flora. By drawing connections with and parallels to natural processes, the imagery presented in this artwork explores the cyclicity of psychological pain. Pink lotuses—the flower used to construct the figures' facial features—sink underwater by night, then bloom above the surface by dawn. This is a cycle that repeats until the end of the flowers' lives. Similarly cyclical, psychological tendencies are physicalized through the distorted human faces, paralleling the stubbornness and vulnerability of the human psyche with the flowers’ natural, daily rebirth. As the flowers rise above the water only to sink into the mud again, we—in many ways—do the same. The almond (a reference to the amygdala, the part of the brain primarily responsible for processing emotions and memories) furthers this imagery of an inevitable, internal struggle.

Materials (Pictured):

1. Acrylic paint
2. Colors used: rose, burnt umber, raw sienna, cobalt blue, phthalocyanine blue, phthalocyanine green, dark purple, pale orange, white, and black
3. Paint brushes
4. One large, flat brush (used for underpainting); a range of soft, flat brushes in medium to small sizes; one filbert brush; small liner brushes; one old, flat brush (used only for mixing and applying impasto medium)
5. Palette knives
6. Canvas
7. 24" x 36" Curry's canvas board
8. Easel
9. Sketchbook (Optional)
10. Necessary only for thumbnail sketches and developing ideas or compositions

Materials (Not Pictured):

1. Impasto Medium
2. Mont Marte Impasto Acrylic Medium (500 mL)
3. Cup
4. Used for holding water to wash pigment off of brushes and to add water to paint
5. Paper towel or cloth
6. Used for drying paint brushes

Before beginning to develop the final composition of my painting, I gathered both conceptual and technical inspiration from artists who work in a variety of mediums, including oil paint, sculpture, and photography. The process of researching various artists and observing their individual stylistic choices greatly influenced the direction of my final piece, as I was able to draw from the aspects of their artwork I found most appealing.

To better understand these artists' styles, and to figure out how the visual effects they created with various mediums could be transferred to my medium of choice (i.e. acrylic paint), I did a series of studies mimicking and recreating their artworks with acrylic paint. These studies were done as small-scale, acrylic recreations of the artworks I was most interested in drawing inspiration from, each study occupying one page of my sketchbook.

Lee K. is a South Korean illustrator and painter known for his surrealist portraits that blend realism with aspects of abstraction. This particular painting (first image) of his involves blocky, unblended brushstrokes of oil paint that are reminiscent of impressionist painting techniques in which artists would apply paint in short, quick brushstrokes to produce an almost unfinished look in their artworks. I found this specific portrait particularly appealing because of the juxtaposition between the smooth, glossy-looking rendering of the nose, mouth, and eyes and the blocky brushstrokes used to depict the rest of the head and neck. Real texture is also used in Lee K.’s artwork as the oil paint used for the blocky brushstrokes was applied so thickly that the brushstrokes are clearly visible and the paint is in relief. I want to incorporate a melding of realist and impressionist painting elements into my own artwork in a fashion similar to Lee K. Through doing a recreation of Lee K.’s painting in acrylic paint, I was able to explore how to best emulate his unique, blocky painting technique.

Émeric Chantier is a French sculptor who primarily creates artwork by painting and varnishing dried vegetables, synthetic greenery, and real plants, then individually attaching each piece of flora to a base of foam to create surrealist sculptures intended to challenge and meditate on the generational relationship between humans and nature. I am particularly interested in the way in which this artwork (second and third images) fuses human facial anatomy with flora so that the boundaries between the human face and aspects of nature are imperceptible. In my acrylic paint study of Chantier’s sculpture, I extended Chantier’s original composition to explore how it would look when I combined the impressionistic brushstrokes prominent in Lee K.’s painting with the realistic style accurate to Chantier’s sculpture. I really liked how this looked because it appeared as though the artwork was being deconstructed. The hyperrealistic crux of the composition appears to be fading interestingly into abstraction. Doing a recreation of Chantier’s sculpture in acrylic paint helped me study his use of colors and tonal differences to create depth.

After studying both artworks, I had decided on a general direction for my composition. Similarly to Chantier’s sculpture, I decided that I wanted to create an artwork in which the human form is visually constructed out of flora while still maintaining enough human features to be recognizable. From my second study, I decided that I wanted my artwork to include juxtaposition between blocky brushstrokes inspired by Lee and surrealism inspired by Chantier.

Since I had decided that I wanted my artwork to feature some representation of a human form, I begun looking through photography collections to find references for specific poses and compositions involving human figures. Later, I would do a few quick digital studies (using Autodesk Sketchbook) based on the photos.

While looking through the Barbara Levine and Paige Ramey collection from the Houston Museum of Fine Arts, I came across this photograph (shown above) titled Kiss-O-Meter that was taken in 1940 by an unknown photographer. Although the photograph’s composition emphasizes the antiquated machine in the center, I was intrigued by this artwork almost entirely because of the two subjects. The photograph depicts a scene that feels very quotidien and candid, more like a simple snapshot of an amusing moment than an intentionally resolved artwork. I created a quick digital study of the subjects in the photograph, focusing solely on their busts. I was most interested in the visual relationship between the subjects; I found it appealing how the negative space occupied by the dark background and the subjects’ dark hair emphasizes their faces. I also like how symmetrical balance is created by the two subjects being on the same level and having equal visual weight.

Using Autodesk Sketchbook, I digitally drew three composition ideas inspired by both Chantier and Kiss-O-Meter. These were done as simple line drawings, used only to record general ideas without much detail. I thought my idea of having a depiction of some sort of literal divide or impediment between the two subjects worked well. So, I decided to proceed with this composition (right-most drawing) in which the subjects’ embrace is obstructed by some sort of object that had yet to be decided at this point. I thought that there was a lot of potential for symbolism in the impeding object and it would create a central focus in the composition.

I had decided to have my final composition be inspired by the color scheme and petal shape of lotus flowers, so I did a few studies of lotus flowers in various phases to familiarize myself with their coloration and form. For my very first attempts at getting my ideas down on paper, I did a few studies of various parts of the plant (the pistils, petals, leaves, and stem) as well as studies of the plant in different stages of bloom. I did these in acrylic paint so as to study the flower’s color and shape. After becoming more familiar with the shape of the plant, I sketched some initial ideas in pen, in which I combined parts of the plant with various human facial features such as the eyes, the lips, and the skin. I ended up liking how these preliminary drawings looked, so I continued developing them into full compositions inspired by the subjects in the Kiss-O-Meter photograph.

I created several preliminary paintings in my sketchbook using watercolor paint to decide what exactly I wanted each of the faces to look like and how I wanted to incorporate lotus flowers. Through these paintings, I was able to decide that I wanted the color scheme of my artwork to be accurate to the real colors of lotus flowers so the visual motif could be more easily recognizable. I also decided that the object between the two figures should be an almond because of its symbolism and emotional connotations relating to the brain (i.e. the amygdala). I included blocky, unblended brushstrokes inspired by Lee K.’s oil painting. Like in Lee K.’s painting, these distinct brushstrokes were used to render the sides of the face and neck while a realistic style was used to render the central features. This combination of realism and impressionism is very similar to what I explored in my study of Chantier’s sculpture.

Based on my research and preliminary drawings, I used PaintTool SAI to create a digital drawing of my plan for my final composition and intended color scheme.

Then, I created a thumbnail drawing to inform my final painting. I used acrylic paint to create this mock-up, which led me to deciding that the medium I will use for my resolved artwork is acrylic paint as well. One aspect of Lee K.’s painting that I particularly liked was the artist’s use of real texture where some of the oil paint was applied so thickly it dried in relief. I did not have the resources have to mimic this painting technique exactly, so I instead decided to use an impasto acrylic medium to create a pastose surface. I did this by mixing acrylic paint with the impasto medium, then applying the mixture with a palette knife. As this was my first time using an impasto medium, I had difficulty figuring out an appropriate ratio of acrylic paint to impasto medium, so I decided to experiment with it on my mock-up painting before using it on my final artwork. Several times, I would not add enough acrylic paint to the mixture, causing off-white streaks of the impasto medium to show through. I initially resolved this by simply painting over the unmixed impasto medium, then later began mixing the paint with the impasto medium with a paintbrush instead, as it could mix the two substances more thoroughly than a palette knife could.

Before beginning working on my painting, I secured my canvas (a 24" x 36" canvas board) to my easel and quickly sketched out the general proportions and placements of the two figures' features using a yellow pencil crayon. I deliberately chose a pale color like yellow for my preliminary sketch so that it could be easily erase or covered up later on in the process.

After mapping out the general proportions, I drew a much more detailed and precise base sketch using a mechanical pencil.

I always start my paintings with an underpainting of watered-down acrylic paint. This is very helpful in both ridding the canvas of any blank space, and setting an overall tone and color scheme for the artwork. For this painting's underpainting, I used a mixture of phthalocyanine green and phthalocyanine blue (essentially, any dark green mixed with any dark blue can be used as alternatives to those specific hues). I added water to create a mixture that was roughly 2/3 paint and 1/3 water. This ensured that the mixture of paint was both saturated enough to create a solid underpainting and not so opaque that it would fully cover up the base pencil sketch. I applied one layer of this mixture to the entirety of the canvas using a very large, flat brush.

After allowing for the underpainting to fully dry, I began working on painting the two figures. Since acrylic paint is known to dry very quickly, and since it dries even faster on canvas board than it does on any other surface, I used a method of painting that does not require layers of paint to be blended with one another. Rather, I just place very similar colors next to each other to create an illusion of blending without having to rely on the paint staying moist. I do this by using a medium-sized flat brush to apply the darkest shades, then the middle shades, then the lightest shades. I continue this process of layering dark to middle to light over and over again with progressively smaller brushes to achieve an increasing level of detail. Every time I switch over to a smaller brush, I focus on layering as many transitional/medium shades as possible to create the illusion of blending without actually doing so.

While the main color used in this painting was pink for the lotus flower petals, I added many other hues to create more depth and dimensionality. For example, for the darkest areas of the painting, I added purples and blues because shadows are usually cool-toned. This is effective for adding darkness without sacrificing vibrancy; I never directly mixed black with any color to create a darker shade, because it typically ends up looking muddy and dull. In this way, it is important to pay attention to differences in hue, not just differences in shade.

Throughout the entire painting, I used the same, repetitive process of layering dark to medium to light throughout all parts of the composition. After finishing the petals and the facial features of the figures using primarily flat brushes of various sizes, I completed the almond using a series of filbert brushes and round brushes. Similarly to the flower petals, I included a variety of colors such as burnt sienna, dark yellow, pale orange, and burnt umber to create depth using variances in hue rather than just variances in shade. All of the minute details in the painting (i.e. the lines on the flower petals and the grooves on the almond's surface) were done using liner brushes. To achieve these fine details, I did not directly apply opaque paint. Rather, I used multiple layers of slightly watered-down paint to achieve greater accuracy with my brushwork.

Throughout the process, I used online images of lotus flowers and almonds as references to ensure that I was depicting them accurately and realistically. This was also very useful in developing my color scheme as I was able to discern the actual hues of the objects through photos of them.

The last aspect of my painting was the pastose surface surrounding the central features of the two floral figures. To create this textured surface, I mixed impasto medium with acrylic paint in a roughly 1:1 ratio. I ensured to mix these two mediums together with an old paint brush until they were fully combined, making sure that there were no white streaks of impasto medium visible in the mixture. I applied this mixture onto the canvas in short, distinct strokes using a medium-sized flat brush. In order to fully achieve a really texturized surface, I made sure that before I applied each stroke to the canvas, I had a very thick layer of impasto medium/acrylic paint on my brush. In terms of hue, I approached this exactly like how I approached the acrylic paint: I began by applying the darkest shades, then the medium shades, then the lightest shades. Also like the acrylic paint, I had to apply several layers of impasto medium to fully cover the entire intended area and ensure there were minimal gaps of underpainting visible. After applying the medium with my flat paintbrush, I used a variety of palette knives in various shapes to gently smooth over the surface of the medium to make the brushstrokes uniform and cohesive.

Finally, I once again created a mixture of phthalocyanine green, phthalocyanine blue, and black acrylic paint. I applied this paint to the portion of the background visible between the two figures' faces to create an dark, opaque layer to contrast the otherwise vibrant colors.

After allowing the completed painting to remain on the canvas until it was fully dry (it took five days for the impasto area to completely dry), my painting was officially complete!