Pointillism - Summer 2008 Issue of Horses in Art Magazine

Pointillism

by Pat Schermerhorn

Attitude – Pen and Ink (pointillislm,) 8 x 9, by Pat Schermerhorn
When people look at one of my paintings, their comment is usually, “How is that done? It all looks like dots.” It is dots and done by hand simply by holding the pen lightly and making dots. Looking at it from a distance, all the dots run together and give an impression of realism. Everything is digital anymore; this is digital by hand.

I don’t know if I am a pointillist or a stipplist. I stipple using color. I layer dots of one color over and around another color until I get the effect I want, sometimes using layers of several different colors. I use modern technical pens in the smallest points I can get, mostly #005. These pens come in several different colors.

Some colors are harder to create than others such as greens and yellows so I sometimes (but not always) put a water color wash of these colors on first and stipple over the top of them.

Many times I will put a base color on first then start putting in darks and lights. Here is where the fun begins. Filling in a lot of blank space is time consuming and can get tedious, but then things begin to happen. It is like laying on your back and watching summer clouds. Your imagination takes over and you delve into realms of fantasy and create something altogether different. I may have a painting completely thought out in detail, but as I start stippling, things come out. I have a painting of three buffalo titled Out of the Dust. In this painting the middle buffalo was planned and done in detail; the other two grew out of that one, the front one evolving out of the shoulder of the middle one. There are no mistakes, every misplaced dot can become something else. Another painting, Attitude is of a wild stallion of the McCullough Peaks wild horses. His wild and shaggy mane was the really fun thing on this painting. Plus the look in his eye.

Cloud Dancer – Pen and Ink (pointillislm,) 8 x 9, by Pat Schermerhorn.

I do use a lot of photos, as this is a slow process, but the photo changes as I do it, and I sometimes use two or three different photos. I love sketching live models and do a lot of that, but I also carry a camera everywhere I go.

Fantasy has become fun. The painting Cloud Dancer is such a piece. I pictured a horse trotting in slow motion, almost like a ballet dancer, all four feet off the ground. This was so fun and I love the comments on it. Little girls look at it and say “unicorn.” Who knows, it’s just a white horse dancing on clouds.

About Pat Schermerhorn

Growing up, I loved drawing horses. One of my favorite books was Smoky by Will James. Will James did the most incredible pen and ink drawings of horses and the west. I copied them over and over. I grew up in the country and went to country schools. Art education was unheard of mostly, so I taught myself. I was born and raised in Iowa then moved to California after I was married.

My love of horses came back when I moved to North Dakota, then Wyoming. I took a few workshops on painting, and a fellow artist taught me what I know about color. While living in North Dakota ranch land I was close to branding, round ups, etc., and I also loved visiting Theodore Roosevelt National Park where there are wild horses roaming.

My husband passed away in 1999 and I became a full-time artist and moved to Wyoming in 2004.

Wyoming is much the same as North Dakota with lots of horses and a lot of mules used by outfitters in the high country. Also we have wild horses in the McCullough Peaks just outside Cody, and we are not far from the Pryor Mountain Mustangs.

Living in Cody, I am close to Yellowstone National Park and Teton National Park, Sunlight Basin and Bear Tooth Pass and Big Horn Canyon. Everywhere I turn there is beautiful scenery and things to paint. I have a studio in Cody but get out of doors as much as possible.

I am a signature member of:
The Women Artists of the West
Catherine Lorillard Wolfe Art Club
Pastel Society of the Northern Rockies
Grand National Artists Society
Cody Country Art League

To view more of Pat’s lovely artwork go to her web site: www.patschermerhorn.com

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