Description

This is the 2nd demonstration video by Neil Patterson, OPAM and President of the Oil Painters of America.

As with the previous video, it was a wonderful experience to watch him work in a leisurely, relaxed pace while using such bold colors.

His technique was so easy and relaxed that it seemed that anyone could easily do it, and his loose, impressionistic style is a pleasure to watch and is, indeed, a technique and style that which everyone should see.

Patterson emphasizes that color, not subject, is the true essence of his paintings. Not limited to a single genre, he moves from landscapes to floral works to wildlife paintings and figures with an easy grace. Patterson relies on an impressionistic Alla Prima style. I used to work from photographs, but over the years I ve learned not to do that, he says. When I see a sky, I like to put that in my visual memory bank, and on another day I might add an appealing cluster of trees or an intriguing bend in the river. As I paint I simply add a mountain or plant a tree in order to create a scene that pleases me visually. The final composition becomes a composite of many impressions in my memory. Each of us remembers things in a certain way that is our own reality. I paint things the way I remember them, perhaps not exactly as they are.

Painting is all about passion, declares Neil Patterson. If you respond to the passion that you have inside yourself, that s when the real painting comes out. Selling your work is a bonus; painting itself is what really matters. It is his ability to paint feelings rather than merely replicating what he sees that makes Patterson s vibrant, impressionistic oils so appealing.