Sunday in the Park with George, Chicago Art Museum

Georges Seurat (George Sur-RAH) wanted to capture a sense of movement in his paintings like the Impressionists, but he wanted to do it in a way that seemed more real. He created his own scientific method of painting called Pointillism—tiny brushstrokes of bright color placed so close together that the eye would mix them optically. He used color harmonies such as complimentary (opposite) colors to make the parts of his paintings seem to vibrate. Primary colors were placed next to each other to optically create secondary colors. This created a sense of real atmosphere in his paintings—they seemed to sparkle.

To create a sense of sparkle in your work, make sure you never completely cover the white paper. Tiny dots of light must sparkle through.

For pure white areas, gradate the amount of dots and allow the white paper to gradually show– create different densities with the dots. (many close dots fade to only a few separated dots)

1. Grid your picture and enlarge it onto 18″x 24″ paper. Draw  lightly.
2. Use fine tip markers only to “dot” the colors as seen in the original picture.
3. Remember the following:

• “Dot” one square at a time.
• Always use a mixture of colored dots to create each color in the picture.

• Never use only one color!

• Work with color harmonies to create a variety of sparkling colors.
• Always allow tiny white dots of the paper to sparkle through.
• Use black sparingly.
  To darken colors use tones –two opposite colors (complements).
  Examples: Red/ green; blue/ orange; yellow/ violet