Playing tricks on the eye is the name of the game in trompe l’œil, a style of painting that creates illusions of texture and depth. (Trompe l’œil is French for “fool the eye.”) In spirit and attention to detail, it has much in common with photorealism, with the main difference being composition and subject matter — in photorealism, the painter strives to accurately recreate any scene, but a trompe l’oeil painting is meant to create the illusion of a real object.
Patrick Kirwin, a trompe l’oeil master, shares his bag of tricks in his classes at The Art League. We recently visited the classroom to see how he paints picture-perfect marble:
And later returned to film him painting translucent moulding over that same marble — a classic trompe l’oeil look:
To see all our videos as we post them, be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel! You can read more about Patrick Kirwin on his website and on Handcrafted Alexandria.
Sign up for our weekly blog newsletter, subscribe to our RSS feed, or like us on Facebook for the latest Art League news. Visit our homepage for more information about our classes, exhibits, and events in Old Town Alexandria, Virginia.
You can support The Art League every time you shop through AmazonSmile!
Simply set The Art League as your chosen charity, and every time you shop at smile.amazon.com, a portion of your purchase will be donated to support our mission to share the experience of visual arts with the community.
