Pointillism : Introduction, Characteristics, Inventors

In my previous post I shared some works created by me using Stippling technique. And also shared some information regarding Stippling (dot work) technique. Some people also call this technique as Pointillism. But I told you that stippling is distinct from pointillism. Let us know how it is distinct from pointillism. For that we have to learn what pointillism is.

• What is Pointillism?

In fine art the term "pointillism" (from the French word "point" meaning "dot") describes a technique of Neo-Impressionism painting, in which hundreds of small dots or dashes of pure color are applied to the canvas, or other ground in order to create maximum luminosity. That is, instead of mixing color pigments on a palette and then applying the mixture into the painting, the pointillist applies small dots of pure unmixed color directly onto the picture and relies on the eye of the viewer to mix the color optically.

Pointillism also called Divisionism and Chromoluminarism, in painting, the practice of applying small strokes or dots of colors to a surface so that from a distance they visually blend together. 

• What are the characteristics of Pointillism?

Unlike some art movements, Pointillism has nothing to do with the subject matter of the painting. It is a specific way of applying the paint to the canvas. In Pointillism the painting is made up entirely of small dots of pure color. Pointillism used the science of optics to create color from many small dots placed so close to each other that they would blur into am image to the eye. This is the same way computer screens work today. The pixels in the computer screen are just like the dots in a Pointillism painting. 

Pointillism is often considered part of the Post-Impressionist movement. While Impressionists used small dabs of paint as part of their technique, Pointillism took this to the next level using only small dots of pure color to compose an entire painting.

• When was the Pointillism movement?

Pointillism reached its peak in the 1880s and 1890s after the Impressionist movement. Many of the concepts and ideas, however, continued to be used by artists in the future.

• Who invented Pointillism?

The founder of Pointillism was George Seurat (1859-1891), a model student at the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris. A traditioned, and conventional classical painter, he rejected Impressionism, a style of painting and color based on the subjective responses of the individual artist, in favour of a more scientific method which he developed around 1884 and called Chromoluminarism. Based on the scientific color theory of the French Chemist Michel Eugene Chevreal (law of Simultaneous Color Contrast, 1839) and the American Physicist Ogden Rood (Modern Chromatics, 1879), the method was used to a degree by the Impressionist painters, but only on an ad hoc basis, and it was not developed systematically until Seurat. Seurat's main disciple was the former Impressionist Paul Signac (1863-1935). A coastal Landscape artist, Signac was strongly attracted by the scientific method behind Pointillism and Divisionism and after Seurat's death in 1891,he became the leading exponent of the Neo-Impressionist movement. In addition to oil paintings and watercolor, he also produced a number of Lithographs, etchings and pen-and-ink sketches composed of tiny, laboriously laid out dots. A strong supporter of younger artists within the Post-Impressionism movement, Signac was reportedly the first person to buy a painting from Henri Matisse.

• How does Pointillism relate to Divisionism and Neo-Impressionism?

Strictly speaking Pointillism refers only to the type of work made on the canvas (the dot) or might just as easily call it "dottism". The actual theory of mixing paint-pigments optically rather than on a palette, is known as Divisionism (or Chromoluminarism). To confuse things further, Pointillism was the signature style of the French painting style known as Neo-Impressionism. To put it another way, Neo-Impressionist painters absorbed the color theories of Divisionism and employed Pointillist brushwork, in order to create the most luminous colors.

Here is one work which I have tried using Pointillism style ~

Watercolor on Paper

(Note : I have gathered this information about Pointillism from different sources.) 

Stippling Art, Dot Work | Learning the technique | Stippled Flowers

Lately, I got attracted to some artworks created by the artists using the dot drawing technique called Stippling. Stippling is an ink drawing technique where you apply tone and texture in small dots. In another words, stippling is a drawing technique in which areas of light and shadow are created using nothing but dots. In a drawing or painting the dots are made of pigment of a single color applied with a pen or brush.

The basic idea is simple : For darker areas you apply a greater number of dots and keep them close together. Then for progressively lighter areas use fewer dots and space them farther apart.
Some people also call this technique as pointillism. But stippling is distinct from pointillism, which uses dots of different colors to stimulate blended colors.

Stippling demands patience and precision, and each piece takes hours to complete.



Here are few flower works which I drew using this technique. You can see by zooming the work that it has been drawn with millions of small dots of pen.

"Anemone"
Pen on Paper
8.5inch × 10.5inch

"Peony"
Pen on Paper
8.5inch × 10.5inch

"Dahlias"
Pen on Paper
8.5inch × 10.5inch

"Orchids"
Pen on Paper
8.5inch × 10.5inch

The process definitely takes hours and demands patience but worth it. I love the texture created by this technique. It looks astonishingly beautiful. I would love to do more works by using this technique and improve my skills.

Thank you for stopping by. Let me know if you like my work. Keep supporting. Keep making art. :) 

Acrylics Painting ~ Love In Paradise

"Love In Paradise "
Acrylics on paper
22" ×28"

In this painting I have shown the beauty of love, the wonderful place the two persons create when they are in love. When they are in love, for them the world becomes a paradise, and they know no limits, no boundaries, and no limitations. There love is Unconditional, limitless, and always flowing. The entire world can certainly be won over by real love. 

Now the question is.. What is love? 

Simply stated, Love is the feeling that you feel for another, which comes from within. 

It is a natural wonderful feeling and so powerful that it can cause us pain. 

There are many kinds of love and each depends on what we feel for another. There could be love that you may have for your parents, children, pets, friends, relatives, or just about anyone, other than the love between two people. 

When you see love between two people, something is moving, changing, and flowing. They live in an aura and their vibration reach one another even if they are not together. In such kind of love sometimes there is no need for words as there is a deep understanding prevalent between two people. Instead, there is an exchange between their souls or a soul-to-soul connection. 

"Love is like the sunrise ; hope appeared at the same time on two faces and in two souls connected by the same wonders and tears of life. " ~ Mariana Fulger

Ture love listens ; it always waits, and is patient, kind, caring, joyous, and free! 

What are your thoughts about love? Have you ever been in love? 

Acrylics Painting ~ Moonlight Night

"Moonlight Night"
Acrylics on Paper
22inch × 28inch

This artwork of mine is not fully abstraction. I have used acrylics on paper. The nature always attracted me towards it. I always get inspiration from it.

A moonlight night is one of the beautiful phenomena of nature. The moon may be crescent or full, but it is beautiful in either form. It looks beautiful in blue and dark sky. You all must have witnessed this beautiful view. In the dark sky, here and there are few patches of white clouds float slowly. It seems like the moon is playing hide-and-seek with these clouds. I enjoy this view. You all must have enjoyed it. It is very pleasant to look at the sky at the time and to hear the soft and musical sounds of crickets and night-birds.

The earth seems to be washed with moonlight. It seems to be an art of light and shade.

"The moon was up painting the world silver, making things look just a little alive." - N.D Wilson

When the moon showers its light upon earth it makes me feel like it is showering and expressing his love to earth.

There is one poem "Moonlight Night Love" which I have read somewhere, and want to share, the writer is unknown.

"As Moon comes

To earth every night

To court her affection

In the presence

Of a million stars

Yet oblivious of their stare

Only focused on his love

Scaling her in circles.

Never tiring, ever following

In orbital woos...

So will I circle

You my love

Till you say yes..!!

A moonlight is nature's sweetest offer to mankind. It gives an essence of love to mankind. As there is a saying that moonlight cannot get apart from moon likewise true lovers cannot get apart. It is rightly said by Debasish Mridha that -

"The moon is the reflection of your heart and moonlight is the twinkle of your love."

When I see in the dark sky it seems like moon is smiling upon us and is vanishing all the darkness of the earth and the darkness which is inside us, the darkness of sorrows and pain.

"Only the moon's smile can cure the unseen scars of darkness." - Munia Khan

"Moon is the light from a lantern in heaven." - Munia Khan

I just love the beauty of moonlight night. It gives peace and sense of calmness to my heart. Moonlight has a lasting effect on the human minds.

"The true joy of a moonlit night is something we no longer understand. Only the men of old, when there were no lights, could understand the true joy of a moonlit night." -Yasunari Kawabata

Acrylics Painting ~ Born To Live

"Born To Live"
Acrylics on canvas
23inch × 27inch

In today's society women do not have a very prominent role as there male counterparts. Women are looked at very differently. People see them as weak in heart and afraid of doing things in a forceful manner. Female child has been treated inferior to male child and this is deeply engraved in the mind of the female child. A male child is considered a blessing and his birth is celebrated as opposed to female child where her birth is not celebrated and is considered more of a burden.

Why? Women are people too.

My this artwork "Born to Live" is based on women and I wanted to convey the message to everyone that they(women) have the right to live their life as they want because 'she' a woman is a human being too.

It is not easy to put into words a feeling and a problem that women find harder to talk about than almost anything. Essentially, this feeling or problem is a strange stirring, a yearning, a search that is going on in the minds of women. This is not easy to put into words because those women who struggle with it struggle alone, afraid to admit that they are asking themselves the silent question "Is this all?"

She may spends years, working out her 'adjustment to the feminine role.' She may have many things to say she cannot describe. And an inner voice may say, "That's not it." A women may live half her lifetime before she has the courage to listen to that voice and know that it is not enough to be a wife and mother, because she is a human being herself. She has to find her own fulfillment first.

No women knows where her search for self-fulfillment will take her. No women starts that search today without struggle, conflict, and taking her courage in her hands.

Who knows what women can be when they finally are free to become themselves?

There is a message for all the women reading this.

Be who you are. Do not ever feel stressed about having a dual responsibility of family and work. It is difficult, but not impossible. Tell yourself you are beautiful, do your best and deserve a peaceful life. Anybody trying to take that away from you is making a mistake, not you. Your purpose of coming to this earth is not to please everyone. Your purpose is to offer what you have to the world, and have a good life in return. You are born to live, not to die.

Acrylics Painting ~ Light Through Darkness

  "Light Through Darkness"

Acrylics on Canvas

34"inch × 24inch

"MIRACLES START TO HAPPEN WHEN YOU GIVE AS MUCH ENERGY TO YOUR DREAMS AS YOU DO TO YOUR FEARS."

This artwork of mine is an abstract. I generally get inspire by nature and things around me and try to depict the hardships/sorrows and happiness of life through a combination of color, texture and patterns.

I have done this painting to motivate people and to explain that in our life there are phases - dark and bright, sad and happy. The essential nature of being alive and being human is to experience life in its purest form - the win and losses, celebrations and challenges, and the good with the bad.

"LIFE IS IRONIC. IT TAKES SADNESS TO KNOW WHAT HAPPINESS IS, NOISE TO APPRECIATE SILENCE AND ABSENCE TO VALUE PRESENCE."
- DAVID AVOCADO WOLFE

Some of these experiences are not favourable. We might be in pain physically or emotionally - we hurt. Often we feel betrayed by life itself, we feel it is unfair and question why we have to go through these struggles. We surround ourselves with negativity. When we come face to face with a struggle, a low point in life, be it an illness, a relationship breakdown or financial ruin, at the time we are lost in darkness. We feel darkness all around us and no light shinning through. We lose all hope.

But we should not forget that darkness has always a light behind it which will destroy it some time. When every door closes, there is always one door opened for us.

WINSTON CHURCHILL once said- "SUCCESS IS NOT FINAL. FAILURE IS NOT FATAL. THE COURAGE TO CONTINUE IS WHAT COUNTS."

Through darkness comes light, through fear comes love and through pain comes triumph. This is the triumph of the human spirit, it is not in a selected few, it is in every one of us. Your struggles and hardships are your gifts so that you can reach deep down inside of yourself and discover your inner power and the glory of who you are. The common saying "WHAT DOESN'T KILL YOU MAKES YOU STRONGER" has a very profound truth in it.

    "LIFE IS A SERIES OF NATURAL AND SPONTANEOUS CHANGES. DON'T RESIST THEM - THAT ONLY CREATES SORROW. LET REALITY BE REALITY. LET THINGS FLOW NATURALLY FORWARD IN WHATEVER WAY THEY LIKE."
- LAO TZU

When you are in the dark place looking for a way out of your hardships, you are faced with two choices: give up or come through it stronger. You can assume the victim role and feel sorry for yourself or you can reach into the essence of who you are and find your inner strength. You need to believe you can do this. You are powerful. So believe yourself, be strong, be fearless and have positivity which will turn into light in the darkness of negativity and will make you stronger. Remember there is always a light behind darkness. Everything you need will come to you at the perfect time. Have hope and faith and destroy the darkness of your soul.

   " TO TRUST IN THE FORCE THAT MOVES THE UNIVERSE IS FAITH. FAITH IS NOT BLIND, IT IS VISIONARY. FAITH IS BELIEVING THAT THE UNIVERSE IS ON OUR SIDE, AND THAT THE UNIVERSE KNOWS WHAT ITS DOING."
- UNKNOWN

Nature ~ My Inspiration

I' not a writer, I'm an artist and being an Artist the first thing that comes to my mind is Art.
God is the apex artist. Nature I believe is the most astonishing art of the God. Its fascinating shapes and alluring colors are an inspiration to every artist. I am an admirer of the mother nature, it instructs me to decorate a unburdened canvas, to burden it with blee of beauty, feelings, emotions and desires.
Everything in nature is evident to the senses and has the great artistic talent and creativity. It has a charm, a magical power to heal the evilness of the undesirable darkness and gloomiest sorrows.


Nature is my inspiration, it fills me with the varied emotions and Art is my feelings and emotions which I express by filling a canvas through colors. For me it is a healing power which heals my mind and soul in this world full of negativity. As nature is beautiful and full of aesthetic colors, I as an artist try to bring colors in people's life and provide them a beautiful sight with the power hidden inside me, the power to wake up the desires of dying hearts.




What's your inspiration? What's your experience as an Artist?