Crossword Genius

In the past, impressionistic bird designs (8)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

patterns

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'designs' is the definition.
(I know this)

'in the past impressionistic bird' is the wordplay.
'in the' indicates putting letters inside.
'past impressionistic' becomes 'pats' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'bird' becomes 'tern' (tern is a kind of bird).
'pats' enclosing 'tern' is 'PATTERNS'.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for patterns that I've seen before include "'Models, blueprints (8)'" , "Guides for making something" , "Designs, shapes" , "Repeated decorative designs" , "Models for making things" .)

I've seen this clue in the Evening Standard.
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