River Market ArtSpace

How'd They Do That? -- Painting

Paintings at ArtSpace are generally divided into three main types – watercolors, oils, and acrylics – and processes are varied according to the artist and his or her intention, surface (paper, canvas, etc.), type of paint, brushes, climate, and education. There is no "most common" way to do anything connected with painting. Some artists paint primarily on location (en plein air) or in a studio; many use researched ideas, paint spontaneously, or work from photographs. Most try to be creative, inventive, and novel in their approach, although others successfully stay with traditional conventions and apply new techniques in judicious amounts.

Painting is about relationships – relationships between the elements and principles of design, between the work and the views or emotions the artist is expressing, and between the artist's responses to the inner and outer worlds. In addition, painting is about the larger scope of art and creation of something that hasn't existed before. It is also about expression of a personal point of view. The focus, therefore, is broader than exploration of technique or even subject matter; rather, it is an exploration of the artist's philosophy, the will to create, and the process of defining and refining a unique message using paint as a means for communication.

Watercolor is a good medium to use in order to evoke mood, atmosphere, and the effects of light. Watercolor painting began with the invention of paper in China shortly after 100 AD. In the 12th Century, the conquering Moors introduced papermaking to Spain and the technology spread to Italy decades later. Some of the oldest paper manufacturers include Fabriano, Italy, opened in 1276, and Arches, France, opened in 1492.

The use of watercolor was perfected in England. Its forerunner was buon fresco painting – wall-painting using pigments in watermedia on wet plaster. One well-known example of buon fresco is the Sistine Chapel, begun in 1508 and completed in 1514.

The earliest known use of European watercolor painting is by Italian Renaissance painter Raffaello Santi (1483-1520), who painted full-scale cartoons as precursors for tapestry designs. In Germany, Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528) painted watercolors in the 15th Century. The first school of watercolor painting in Europe was led by Hans Bol (1534-1593) and was much influenced by Dürer's creations.

The broader term for water-based painting media is watermedia. The term watercolor most often to refers to traditional transparent watercolor or gouache (an opaque form of the same paint). Watercolor is basically finely-ground pigment or dye bound in water-soluble gum arabic for body; glycerin or honey is used for viscosity and to bond the colorant to the painting surface. Unpigmented filler is added to gouache to lend opacity to the paint. Oil of clove is used to prevent mold. When a brush loaded with water thins the gum, a transparent wash of color can be laid onto the surface of a sheet of paper.

Oil painting, from the time of the Greeks, was closely related to the chemistry of art and the chemistry of medicine, and the recipes used for both were frequently written in the same books. These recipes were kept throughout the early centuries of Christianity by monks until their broader use outside of the monasteries in the middle ages. The use of drying oils is recorded among these recipes, listing walnut oil, poppy oil, hempseed oil, castor oil, and linseed oil as varnishes to seal pictures and protect them from water. Adequately thickened, they became resinous in and of themselves and therefore worked as varnishes quite well. Later on, yellow pigments were added to the oil and it was spread over tin foil to mimic the look of gold leaf, but at less cost. And as early as the 13th Century, oil was used for painting details over tempera pictures.

Oils were purified and bleached in the sun, and drying time was decreased by the addition of metallic oxides such as Litharge or White Lead. Other methods of preparing oil by boiling and mixing with various substances is recorded throughout the middle ages, into the Renaissance, and beyond.

The procedures involved in making a usefully fluid medium with which to paint entire pictures in great detail were perfected by the brothers Van Eyck in the first half of the 15th Century. From these Flemish artists and their students it is rumored that the new methods were spread to Italy by Antonella da Messina where, "once adapted to Italian taste, subjects, and dimensions, (the new way of painting) was received with enthusiasm."

Acrylic painting is the 20th Century's contribution to painting. It is the only medium that is capable of the widest range of approaches in technique and methods, thus stimulating creativeness and fresh thinking in theory and art ideology, and, as such, demands that maximum expression should be sought through its versatility.

Acrylic is fast-drying paint containing pigment suspended in an acrylic polymer emulsion. Acrylic paints can be diluted with water, but become water-resistant when dry. Depending on how much the paint is diluted (with water), the finished acrylic painting can resemble a watercolor or an oil painting.

Acrylics were first available commercially in the 1940s, although experimental forms of acrylic resin paints had been developed as early as the 1920s in the United States and earlier in Germany. The first commercially available acrylic paints were actually oil compatible.

Acrylics are sometimes used in place of watercolors because acrylics dry closer to the desired color (slightly darker, usually) while watercolors dry lighter (and often unpredictably, especially for beginning artists).

Acrylics are often used as an alternative to oil paints because acrylics dry much faster (usually within an hour or even as little as less than a minute, depending on brand and thickness of application). Oil paints, which consist of pigment suspended in an oil (usually linseed, or other natural oil) base, can take a very long time to dry – a few weeks or as long as several months. Acrylic paints can achieve an oil-paint-like effect, and do so in much less time. Though applied to look like oil paints, acrylics are somewhat limited due to the superior color range of oil paints, and the fact that acrylic paints dry to a shiny, smooth effect – not surprising since acrylic paints are, basically, plastic. Accordingly, acrylic paint can be removed with turpentine, mineral spirits (also known as white spirits), ammonia, or rubbing alcohol. Acrylic painters modify the appearance, hardness, flexibility, texture, and other characteristics of the paint surface using acrylic mediums. Watercolor and oil painters also use mediums, but the range of acrylic mediums is much greater. Acrylics have the ability to bond to many different surfaces, and mediums can be used to adjust their binding characteristics. Mediums can change the sheen from gloss to matte, or can add iridescence or texture to the surface. They can also be used to build thick layers of paint: gel and molding paste medias are sometimes used to create paintings with relief features that are literally sculptural.