As part of my art journey, last month I did a pointillism workshop and created the piece below in 5 hours. Most people at the workshop managed it in 3 hours! I’m not going to make excuses for my speed except to say that its not an art form you’d like to indulge in with a headache or when you’re upset.

This form of art is both healing and relaxing if you’re mind is blank or busy thinking about mundane things like i) Has the maid come? or ii) Have the kids reached school? or iii) Should I go shopping this weekend or… Well, I’m sure you’ve got the idea- the kind of things you can think of while your hands do the repetitive job of applying the dots. No special talent required here. All you need is time, patience and peace if the pattern you’ve chosen is simple or else simply passion. In fact, it was the Pointillism piece that I saw in my art teacher’s house- of the ‘Tree of Life’ on a canvas of size 4 by 4 that led me to take this workshop.

Pointillism is a technique in which small distinct dots are applied in patterns to form an image. This technique was developed in 1886 by Paul Signac and Georges Seurat branching off from Impressionism.

While there are exclusive tools for making the dots, they can be made using nail art tools (which I used for my painting) or backs of pencils ( as my daughter was taught in grade 5). To do a painting like the one below, first the canvas needs to be painted with fabric acrylic paint. Once dry, the pattern has to be drawn with a colored pencil or pen. In my case, since the canvas was painted in black, we used white pencil to draw the pattern. To draw the circles, we used a compass. And then began the job of applying the dots in different colors, again using fabric acrylic paint. You need to ensure you don’t stick the dots to close to each other unless its a border. To fill the inside of the pattern you’ve sketched, its best to use nail art tools with round heads of different sizes so the dots are of different sizes and to use contrasting colors. This provides depth to the artwork.

Note from experience: Please don’t try it when you have a headache. I had one, and the dots made me feel sick making me hate the art form on the first day when I spent 3 hours. On the next day, minus the headache, I found the process calming and loved the end result.

Its bright, does not take much time and makes a wonderful gift. I planned to gift this one but dropped the idea because it was my first one after-all. Will have to do another one soon now to pass it on 🙂

Let me know if you ever tried it out or wish to try it out and don’t forget to tell me what you think of my art. XXX

Copyright©2019. lifeateacher.wordpress.com. All Rights Reserved.