Priscilla Levesque

I am intrigued by the relationship between buildings and their surroundings, and how light changes the appearance of brick, wood, stone or glass. When I go walking near my home in N. Chelmsford, I watch for landscapes or houses which I can turn into an interesting composition. Rather than paint on location, I take photos and then paint in my studio.I like this procedure because I can consider the  whole composition, rather than dwelling on small details which may change quickly.

For the past several years I have used the pointillist technique, which was developed by the French painter Georges Seurat in the 1880’s. He built up colors by juxtaposing tiny dots of various hues, which merge together when seen from a distance.  In this technique of “optical mixing”, the color mixture occurs in the eyes rather than on the palette.

The painting medium I use is casein, which is an opaque water-base paint. The advantages are that casein dries fast, needs no special solvents and, since it is opaque, colors can be overlaid very easily. For many years I used transparent watercolor which is tricky, because once an area of paint is too dark, it’s very difficult to fix. In my painting process I often change my mind, and I find that color changes are quite easy with casein.