Writing with the Brushstrokes of an Impressionist Painter by Douglas J. Lanzo
I love impressionist painters and the way in which they capture nuances of light and color in tiny brushstrokes. Images of sunlight dancing upon the surface of water or of fading sunset upon an ancient cathedral or idyllic bridge produce stunning sensory experiences. What is the secret of impressionism that has drawn billions of people around the world across many generations to admire it so fully?
One of impressionism’s central attractions is that it focuses on the essence of the subject depicted rather than on their details, inviting viewers to incorporate their perceptions and unique visualizations. This results in art patrons becoming active participants in impressionist works as individual imaginations and experiences meld tiny, thick, unconnected brushstrokes into blended and smoothed images within their minds. In a sense, impressionists invite the viewer to complete images that are masterfully evocative, painted in a manner in which each brushstroke is essential to the overall picture.
Inviting viewers to be active participants in the artist’s world renders the experience much more personal and meaningful. It also highlights a central tenet of haiku, which is to leave readers to draw their individual realizations from a haiku’s image based on their own intuitions and sensibilities. More specifically, in just a few concise words, a haiku evokes an image that is vivid to the reader’s mind that the poet relates to a human experience.
Haiku leave the reader to fully interpret and connect the image evoked to the human experience that is suggested. As with impressionist viewers, the haiku reader becomes an active participant in the work presented, experiencing a moment of realization that is palpable and gratifying. Just as with patrons of impressionist painting, the ultimate picture and experience of the haiku reader may be the same, similar or different than that of the poet. This enhances the richness and diversity of both writing and experiencing haiku, just as it does with impressionist paintings.
The value of being evocative and suggestive with words, and sparing in their use, is another lesson of haiku that is applicable to works of fiction, whether they be short stories, novellas or novels. This leads to using adjectives and adverbs in a literary work only where necessary to evoke an image or emotion. In such works, no word is superfluous. Many poets write in precisely this manner, consciously or subconsciously removing any excess words. The outcome, if successfully employed, is that poems and other works of fiction become more powerful and the experience of reading more immersive. In that vein, I invite you as a poet and an author to consider why impressionist works appeal to you.
