Water Lily Oil Painting Techniques
- French painter Claude Monet executed the most well-known water lily paintings in the mid to late 1910s. He composed huge canvases featuring the plants painted in an atmospheric style. Visible squiggly brush strokes of broken colors painted over large areas of vibrant hues produced a luminosity that mimicked the effects of sunlight bouncing off the flowers and the surrounding water. Monet's technique strove to accurately portray the interplay of light and shadow under various weather conditions and during different times of the day.
- Impressionist painters perfected methods for capturing fleeting impressions from nature and the changing effects of light. They painted water lilies using the technique of optical or visual color mixing. Conspicuous brushstrokes of pure unmixed broken color laid side by side combined in the viewer's eye to produce perceptions of harmonious hues. Water lilies painted alla prima, in one sitting, produced a spontaneous sketchy style that focused on color relationships. The water and flowers painted in contrasting warm and cool complementary colors create a sense of serenity.
- Dutch and Flemish painters of the 1600s Baroque period painted flowers with a highly developed realistic, naturalistic style. They developed a technique of painting steps centering on glazing, or painting with thin layers of transparent or translucent colors laid down one over another. An imprimatura, or first layer, of earth colors brushed over the entire canvas served to unify the picture's colors. A grisaille, or gray monochromatic underpainting, provided the tonal structure for the picture. The color layers of paint were then glazed onto the canvas for luminous effects.
- Chinese and Japanese styles and techniques of nature painting can be adapted to depict water lilies in oil paint. Oil paint thinned with turpentine and linseed oil mimics the look of watercolor and ink used by Asian painters. A detailed botanical drawing provides the picture's foundation. The painting is done working from light to dark colors to imitate sun and shadow. Fluid colors are applied with soft animal-hair brushes. The natural color of the lilies, known as their local color, is brightened and enhanced by the use of luminous, fully saturated colors.
