Article published on Missouri Valley Impressionist Society

Under the Palette Knife

Posted on March 28, 2012 by MVIS

"Morning Missouri" Oil on canvas 30"Hx40"W

It is truly a privilege to share with you a very personal and intimate moment during the process of creating a painting. The process of a painter to me is probably the most intriguing part of Art making. Unless stated, the story of a painting lies between layers of paint, leaving you armed only with your imagination and interpretation. When I stand before a painting by Monet or Jackson Pollock, all I can think of is how their life experiences and the air they breathe inspired them to move paint that way. Well today, I have the opportunity to share with you how I prepare my canvas and briefly walk through my process of starting a painting.

I am what they call an impasto painter obsessed with texture armed with a palette knife and often times I am called a paint guzzler. My primary subject matter are landscapes. I do include figures into my compositions from time to time. My surface of choice is traditional pre-stretched canvases. I don’t favor a brand as long as the canvas is well made and it has adequate bracing. Once, I have stretched my own canvas. Since then, I have decided that it is more efficient to purchase canvases and focus on my painting instead.

Most of the time, I work from photographs that I take and my compositions come from multiple references like a creative process of an Illustrator. As an Illustrator, I am trained to use visual references to help me create an original composition. Naturally, I start out by creating thumbnails on a piece of paper. I then transfer my composition onto the canvas by hand. Instead of transferring all of the details from my thumbnail sketches, I will try to keep outlines minimal and finish my drawing with paint.

During the first hour, my ultimate goal is to cover the canvas with paint. I use this time to establish my values and texture with either ultramarine or phthalo blue. Why blue? Blues seem to work well as colors for shadows in nature. Considering my primary subject matter are landscapes, the color blue seems to make perfect sense. Sometimes, when I predict a really warm palette in the horizon, I use burnt umber or burnt sienna as my shadows instead.

"Love's Aspiration" Oil on Canvas, 24"H x 30"W

During the first year of my career, I used a palette knife primarily to mix paint as I used a combination of brushes, pencils, oil pastels to apply my paint, I dreaded the smell of turpentine and time spent cleaning my brushes so I decided to switch to the palette knife as my primary tool to apply paint. The knife liberated me as a painter. As soon as I shed my brushes, my paintings started to evolve. It taught me how to simplify even the most complex subject matters at hand. Because I was unable to articulate what I saw precisely with a knife in comparison to a brush, I was forced to imply my subject matters. I believe this is the beginning of my love affair with Impressionism.

Learning to manipulate paint with a knife reminds me of sculpting. I find myself adding, subtracting and carving layers of paint as I sculpt the painting to life. In addition, it requires me to learn how to float wet paint over layers of more wet paint. Too much pressure will cause layers of colors to mix and become muddy. This is not something I was warned about, it is something I had to learn to control and adapt to in order to finish a painting. Beside my easel, I have a table where both my palette rest on. One of which is a cheap frame I acquired twelve years ago and inserted a gray piece of paper under the glass; taped the sides with duck tape. The other, a recycled piece of mirror that I taped the sides with duck tape. Cleanup is easy; I use a blade to scrape off unwanted and/or dry paint.

"Sundown in the Hills" Oil on canvas 30"Wx30"H

After the under-painting is established, an emotional roller coaster journey of self-discovery begins. I start with a vision and color is applied to the canvas. I don’t use a color wheel. I start with a few colors and choose colors that compliment them. I am constantly trying different color combinations. I work from dark to light and finish off my paintings with highlights at the end. I know the above sounds vague but I am glad I do not have a clear vision. During the paint application process, minimal planning is necessary; this preserves the spontaneity and fun. Most importantly, this technique forces me to take risks and make mistakes. All of my paintings do not come easily nor do they go my way initially but it is a battle that I will eventually win as long as I continue to work.
When a painting is complete. It will take at least two weeks for it to cure before I send it off with a Chinese marble stamp as my signature.

Allan Chow, MVIS Charter Member