Palette Knife Painting

Nevertheless, I was there in Europe, and for the first time I understood what the big deal is about this Van Gogh guy. There is a world of difference between looking at a Van Gogh in a book versus being in the presence of one of his powerful, expressive works. His paintings have a rich texture, the paint laid on thick in some places, casting shadows.

Van Gogh often didn't blend his colors, but rather placed bold strokes of color next to one another. When viewed from the proper distance, the strokes blend together to create a variety of tones. I found myself moving forward and back in front of the painting, enjoying the way the picture changed as I got closer or further away.

To learn more about Vincent Van Gogh, you can visit his page at the WebMuseum, Paris.

The painting tool for the canvas below lets you try creating your own picture with bold stokes that cast shadows.

Click one of the dots at the bottom to change the size of your dots.

Click the Angle button to change the angle of the brush to vertical, slanted or horizontal.

Click once in the white area of the canvas to make a single mark.

Double-click and drag to paint a long stroke with a shadow. (What you're really doing is dragging the last brush mark you placed.) Drag slowly to put them close together, or quickly to scatter them around.

Have fun! (Please!) Obviously, the picture to the left is not fine art, but I had fun making it.