What does an Impressionist attempt to create?

 The Impressionist painter is not merely painting pictures of colored objects.  His task is much more complicated -- to see what colored objects look like under colored light.  His palette is much richer than that of the pre-Impressionistic painters, sporting mauves, violets, blues, bright greens oranges and intense yellows.  He can allow himself the liberty of forgetting that his pigments are only substances.  He can permit himself to confuse the paint on the palette with the light that he is attempting to represent.

In my painting of "Pelican Sunset" all of those colors are present, but are constantly moving and changing.  All the mauves, blues, greens in the water are seen while they reflect the changes in the mood of the sky and are speckled with moving reflections of the birds as they bob around and feed on the castings from the fishing boats.The glow of the late afternoon sun is evident as it blushes the wet feathers of these amazing creatures.  It was necessary to keep this painting as loose and wet as possible so that the changes could be made at a moment's notice.  I have to admit that I painted half of it with my fingers.  Sometimes this is necessary, but oh, so much fun!

"Pelican Sunset"     (24" X 30")     Oil on Canvas