MICROPOINTILLIST PAINTING EXPLAINED

     Micropointillist painting (or Micropoint) may be described as a microscopic version of "pointillism"; a theory and technique of painting first practiced by Seurat, Signac and other painters of the late 19th century France. Instead of creating colors by first mixing them on a palette and then spreading them on the canvas, the pointillist painters dabbed masses of individual "points" of primary color paint (yellow, red, blue) on their canvas. These dabs were blended in the eyes of the viewer to appear as many different colors depending on the distribution and density of the primary color dabs. Thus, at a distance, a area of blue and yellow dabs gave rise to the illusion of green. Yet when one approaches these paintings this "green" dissolves into a sea of blue and yellow dots.

The making of "The Gentle Chaos" -- red phase

[Stuttgart 1992] Lowell Boileau

     In micropoint paintings, the dabs of primary color are reduced to microscopic size, or "micropoints", by atomizing or spraying the paint. Any color can be created by controlling the amounts of micropoints of yellow, red, and blue in an area The eye is tricked into seeing countless other colors. All the colors appear solid, yet inspection with a pocket 30 power microscope will reveal that all colors dissolve into yellow, red and blue spatters.

     The paint surface of a micropoint painting is less than 1/100 of an inch thick. The super thinness of the paint accounts for the glowing nature of micropoint paintings. Light can easily pass through this thin paint reflecting strongly off the white primed canvas to back light the painting.

The Process of Micropointillist Painting

"Doing Micropoint"
Stephen Goodfellow 1994

     A micropoint painting begins with a drawing on a white gessoed canvas. The first color, yellow, is then applied in stages. To prevent yellow points from falling into areas where no yellow is needed a liquid water soluble masking solution is brushed over the areas.

     When the masking solution dries, a light spray of yellow paint is made over the entire surface of the painting falling on both the masked and unmasked areas. The canvas is again masked and another light layer of paint is sprayed. This process of masking and spraying is usually repeated as much as six to twelve times.

     With each new masking additional parts of the painting are shielded leaving the remaining unmasked areas to become darker yellow. The canvas is then hosed down water causing the maskings to dissolve away and revealing the painting in shades of yellow plus white (in the areas that were masked before any yellow was sprayed.)

     Red is applied atop this base of yellows. Again, successive masking and spraying of paint occurs. A second hosing down of the canvas follows, revealing the painting in shades of yellow, red and orange plus white.

     Blue, the remaining primary color, is applied atop the base of reds, yellows and oranges. After another series of maskings and paint sprayings, the painting is ready for its final hosing down and its birth as a full color painting.

     This is always a dramatic moment. The repeated application of the dark masking solution and spraying of the blue paint has transmuted the painting into a purple green mess. Suddenly, from this murky chaos, the painting blossoms into its full spectrum of colors as the water streaming down the canvas carries away the dissolved masks. This moment has been dubbed the "splashdown". It is a true "unveiling "of the painting as both artist and onlookers see the completed work in its full color brilliance for the first time.

     Micropointillism was co-developed by Lowell Boileau and Stephen Goodfellow in the late 1970's and early 1980's in Highland Park, Michigan, USA.

 Lowell Boileau