Everyone has their definition of a painterly style - this is the one that I am basing my studies on:
Painterliness is a concept based on the German term malerisch (painterly), a word popularized by Swiss art historian Heinrich Wölfflin (1864–1945) in order to help focus, enrich and standardize the terms being used by art historians of his time to characterize works of art. It is the opposite of linear, plastic or formal linear design.[1]
An oil painting is painterly when there are visible brushstrokes, the result of applying paint in a less than completely controlled manner, generally without closely following carefully drawn lines. Works characterized as either painterly or linear can be produced with any painting media, oils, acrylics, watercolors, gouache, etc.
Expressionistic style and Painterly style are very close to being the same - I like to add what I call staccato brush strokes ( a series of very quick dabs of paint placed in what I see to be strategic places. ) At times it can add sort of a patchwork quilt look to the land but I feel it augments the painterly style.
I've painted outside the lines most of my life, never being one for structure!
Spring Is Coming
18 x 24
First I do a free hand sketch with a brush just to get an idea (road map) for where I hope to take the scene.
Nothing set in concrete and nothing that can't be changed as the painting progresses.
The finished painting
This is the 4th piece I've done as well as hours of studying painters who work in the painterly style and I think I am progressing to a point that I will be able to develop MY painterly style. Still a ways to go but I'm enjoying the journey.
JR :>)
