That's just it, I can't see the splashes of paint as anything more than splashes of paint unless I squint them into an image. I don't know if it's from nature or from training (I'm an engineer)
I guess the core of the matter is that I don't really care about technique or brushwork. I just want a picture that talks to me. And most of the impressionists don't talk to me. (The entire water lillies series doesn't grab me at all for instance)
One style that just crossed my mind is where they do the entire thing with many small dots of paint. Up close its just paint spatters on canvas but as you back away the image comes into view. Now that I can appreciate for the planning involved to get the image right. (Haven't an idea of what the style/technique is called)
Pointillism, and it's not entirely suprising that it should appeal to an engineer - Georges Seurat, the most famous pointillist, spent a good deal of time studying the (then new) science of color theory and perception. Seurat's best known work is his A Sunday on La Grande Jatte (1884):
Of course, this hardly does justice to the painting - the original is 8 feet by 10 feet and took him two years to complete. It's on display at the Art Institute of Chicago, next time you're in town ;)
LOL. Hubby is a scientist, and you sound like him. My guess is that it's nature and training. BTW, Hubby really likes pointillism too.
I was pointing out a few posts back, forgive the pun, that artists who map out areas of color and value for pointilism (or other broken color paintings) do it by squinting, which allows them to see color and value as basic shapes instead of detail. It gives them a mental map, or diagram, in other words.
Artists who paint realism do the same thing, for that matter.