Listen to part of a lecture in a Studio Art class.(male professor) We’re going to continue working with oil paints but in ways you’re probably not yet familiar with.For the next few classes, we’re going to experiment with some different techniques starting with impasto.Impasto, basically, is applying a thick layer of paint to a rigid surface, a piece of wood, let’s say, or a very tightly stretched canvas.Now, normally, with oil paints, you create your painting one thin layer on top of another.And what you end up with is a fairly flat surface.But with impasto, you apply a large amount of paint to represent a three-dimensional texture by creating a three-dimensional painted surface.It’s kind of like the icing that covers a cake full of peaks and valleys.Actually, there’s quite a famous series of paintings of cakes done in impasto.They’re so convincing and look good enough to eat.Anyway, one characteristics of impasto is its ability to reflect light.And no doubt, this was the original reason painters as far back as the 15th century began using impasto.The light it reflected emphasize the gleam of the rich silks and furs their subjects wore sparkle of their jewels.And the contrast between these impasto details and the rest of the flat painting really made these features stand out.But later on, another reason for using impasto was its ability to convey movement in the painting.And a point to keep in mind in your work is that the thicker the impasto is the more it suggests movement.For instance, Vincent van Gogh, van Gogh, the 19th century post-impressionist, was one of the first painters to use impasto in this way.Here’s an example. In this painting of Cypress trees, notice the textures, the peaks and valleys created by the thick paint.By using impasto in this way, van Gogh communicated the shimmering movement in the trees and the sky.As viewers, we can almost feel the breeze blowing on that day, a feeling that really comes alive with the artist’s use of impasto.Today’s artists might use impasto for a different reason.Many contemporary artists feel a painting’s surface, its texture, should be a major focus of the art work, not something just there to display colors and lines.Impasto enables the artists to incorporate the texture and feeling of an object right into the surface of a painting without explicitly representing an actual image of the object.So, what gives impasto this texture?Well, it mostly comes from the way it’s applied. Instead of applying small amounts of paint and scrubbing them into your canvas, like you’re used to doing with oil paints, with impasto you apply a thick mass of paint straight from the tube, or with a paint brush or with a flexible pallet knife or any other tools you may find that gives the texture you’re after, even a toothbrush.You then mold or sculpt the paint onto the canvas with quick, short strokes. The idea is to be spontaneous, energetic, like van Gogh.