Painting

Definition

Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface (support base). The medium is
commonly applied to the base with a brush but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and airbrushes, can be used.

In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. Paintings may have for their support such
surfaces as walls, paper, canvas, wood, glass, lacquer, clay, leaf, copper or concrete, and may incorporate multiple other
materials including sand, clay, paper, gold leaf as well as objects.

The term painting is also used outside of art as a common trade among craftsmen and builders.

Painting is a mode of creative expression, and the forms are numerous. Drawing, composition or abstraction, among other
aesthetics, may serve to manifest the expressive and conceptual intention of the practitioner. Paintings can be naturalistic
and representational (as in a still life or landscape painting), photographic, abstract, be loaded with narrative content,
symbolism, emotion or be political in nature.

A portion of the history of painting in both Eastern and Western art is dominated by spiritual motifs and ideas; examples of
this kind of painting range from artwork depicting mythological figures on pottery to Biblical scenes rendered on the
interior walls and ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, to scenes from the life of Buddha or other images of eastern religious
origin.

Purpose of Painting

The purpose of painting is what would depend on the artist. There are as many different answers as there are artists. For
some it is about expressing their inner soul, bearing it all for the public, but for others is it about Sunday afternoons, and
the pleasure of mixing paint, smearing it on a canvas and seeing the results. For some it is the sheer joy of creating
something when their workday lives are so sterile and void of pleasure, others struggle through each painting as if it were
a minefield ready to blow them up. And for others it is somewhere in between.

Elements of Painting

The elements are the basic building block of a medium. For painting they are line, color, texture, and composition.

Line is a continuous marking made by a moving point on a surface. Line outlines shapes and can contour areas within
those outlines.
Line can suggest movement. Up and down movement may be indicated by the vertical.
An axis line is an imaginary line that helps determine the basic visual directions of a painting.
Since line is usually the main determinant of shapes, and shapes are usually the main determinant of detail, regional, and
structural relationships, line is usually fundamental in the overall composition is an exception -
linear design is often used to describe this organizing function.
Saturation - refers to the purity, vividness, or intensity of a hue.
Value or shading, refers to lightness or darkness of a hue, the mixture in the hue of white or black.
Complementary colors are opposite each other on the color wheel.
Texture is the surface feel of something. When brushstrokes have been smoothed out, the surface is seen as smooth.
In painting or any other art, composition refers to the ordering of relationships: among details, among regions, among
details and regions, and among these and the total structure.
Principles Among the basic principles of traditional painting are balance, gradation, movement and rhythm,
proportion, variety, and unity.
Balance refers to the equilibrium of opposing visual forces. Leonardos Last Supper is an example of symmetrical
balance.
Gradation refers to continuum of changes in the details and regions, such as the gradual variations in shape, color
value, and shadowing in Siqueiross Echo of a Scream.
Movement and rhythm refers to the way a painting controls the movement and pace of our vision.
* Proportion refers to the emphasis achieved by the scaling of size of shapes for example, the way the large Madonna
in the Cimabue contrasts with the tiny prophets.
* Unity refers to the togetherness, despite contrasts, of details and regions to the whole.
* Variety refers to the contrast of details and regions for example the color and shape opposition in OKeeffes Ghost
Ranch Cliffs (fig 4-12).
Techniques are the way painters go about applying the principles of composition. Most techniques are used instinctively.
an awareness of some of the techniques can make us more sensitive to how a painting is formed. the most important
and interesting technique of painting have to do with handling of space and shapes.
Space and shapes the best way to understand space is to think of it as a hollow volume available for occupation by
shapes. Then space can be described by referring to the distribution and relationships of those shapes in that space;
space can be described as crowded or open.
Shapes are distinguishable boundaries, created by colors, textures, and usually and especially- lines. A painting is a 2-
dimensional surface with breadth and height.

Color Charts

Color Charts a systematic arrangement of colors or their representations with respect to either the attributes of the colors
or the mixing relations of their stimuli. These are the basis of an artist in coloring an illustration. Its similar colors on the
original image will portray an excellent masterpiece and create a nice effect on the combination of colors being used.
 Properties of Colors

HUE
When we speak about color, there are three basic properties, or traits, that we can refer to. One is
the name of the color as it is labeled on the color wheel. This property of color is referred to as
hue. Common hues include red, orange, yellow, green, and blue.

VALUE
Another property of color is value. Value refers to the darkness and lightness of a color. If a color is
very light, we say it is a high-value color. When a color is very dark, we say that its value is low.

INTENSITY
Two colors can be the same hue and the same value, yet be two different colors. How can this be?
Intensity refers to the brightness or dullness of a color. Look at the two colors of blue here. They
are about the same value and they are both the hue of blue.

HIGH INTENSITY
Theoretically, the highest intensity that a color can be is its hue as shown on the color wheel.

LOW INTENSITY
The dullest a color can be is gray.

Painting Tools

To get started you need oil paints, brushes, a place to mix your colors, a tool to mix them with and a surface to paint on.
Plus you want a way to clean up. The ingredients are easy to find and you don't need a lot of them. You can do a lot with a
little. Good brushes and good paints are easier to use and go farther than the cheap ones.

Oil Paint Brushes

Good Brushes Make Good Paintings

Brushes are the most important part of your equipment. A good painter will have difficulty painting with bad brushes. A
good brush for oils will retain its shape when loaded with paint and will bounce back to its original shape after each stroke.
A bad brush will not return to its original shape when loaded with paint or after each stroke. Or worse will not bend at all.
Different Brush Hair for Different Purposes
There are two types of hair used in oil painting brushes. They are BRISTLE hairs from pigs and SABLE hair from the weasel
like sable. In the course of a painting you start with large areas. Bristle brushes are best in sizes of a half inch wide or
larger so are used to begin a painting. Whole paintings can be painted using only bristle brushes but if you want finer
detail in smaller areas, you switch to sable brushes. Sable brushes are best in sizes one half inch in width or smaller. Sable
brushes are your detail brushes. (Sable brushes made for watercolors usually lack the spring needed for painting with
oils.)

Long Handles Balance the Brushes

Oil painting brushes are made with longer handles than watercolor brushes or house painting brushes. These other
brushes are ideally used in a vertical position with the painting surface horizontal. Liquid goes down hill, so the short
handles shift the balance toward the front of the brush so the paint will flow better. Oil painting brushes are used in a
horizontal position with the painting surface vertical. The oil paint doesnt flow. When you hold your oil painting brush
horizontally the long handle serves to balance the brush in your hand.

Imitation Hair Brushes Can Be Good

Many brush manufacturers make brushes that imitate the qualities of Bristles and Sables at a lower cost. They include
nylon hairs, horsehair and mongoose hair. None are as good as sables and bristles but occasionally they come close.

Brushes Come in Different Shapes

The most common shapes brushes come in are: Flats, Filberts, Brights and Rounds. Numbers on brushes vary widely
between brands. Look at the size of the brush instead of its number.

Brushes and Their Strokes

Flats
A FLAT brush has hairs arranged in a rectangular shape that is longer than it is wide.
From the side it is narrow. The Flat is the most versatile of brushes. You can make a broad
stroke, a narrow stroke and, with a little twist, a triangular stroke. This is also your primary
blending brush.

Filberts

A FILBERT looks like a Flat with the corners rounded. The stroke
is oval shaped or half circular. They are used when you want a softer edge
or for smaller blends than you get with a Flat.

Brights

A BRIGHT (named after a fellow named Bright) is like a Flat except the hairs are
shorter and the side view is narrower. A Bright is used when you want your brush
strokes to show. They tend to put the paint on thickly and when worked too hard will
remove as paint much as they apply. The bright, being short and therefore stiffer
than a Flat, can also give you a little more control of your stroke.

Rounds

Although some people successfully use ROUNDS for their entire painting,
they are less versatile than other brush shapes because little variation in the
size and shape of the stroke is possible. Rounds are most often sable hair
and are used for small details and line work.
Varnish Brushes

These soft sable-like brushes are used for varnish and retouch varnish.
Clean the varnish from the brushes with turpentine then wash them in soap
and water.

Palettes

Palette is a flat non-porous surface where the oil paint colors are mixed. The
palette can be held in your hand or placed on a neighboring surface. Hand held
palettes have thumbholes. Palettes are commonly made of wood, Plexiglas or
safety glass.

A wooden palette should be coated with linseed oil and wiped dry before its daily
use. After the palette has been cleaned at the end of a session it should be
coated with linseed oil and wiped dry again. Richeson Palettes as the wooden
palette of choice.

Plexiglas is a good surface for a palette and safety glass is the best. Both of
these will need a neutral color backing. Mixing colors on a white palette makes it hard to
distinguish dark colors. The Amaco Paragona Glass Artist Palette is a quality product, and
you can remove the white backing and replace it with brown wrapping paper. All palettes
should be cleaned at the end of a session. A glass palette can be cleaned later with a razor if
need be but wood or Plexiglas will scratch.

On top is a Plexiglas palette in the middle is a wooden palette and on the bottom is safety
glass, (a car window).

The hand held palette with the colors in place and ready to paint. The pure colors are placed
at the far edge of the palette. Portions of these colors are brought forward, mixed with the palette knife and then painted
on the canvas.

Palette Knives

These are used to mix your colors on the palette. Knives come in
many shapes, sizes and uses. These shapes are well suited to the
mixing of colors. You only need one to start. The top one is the
most useful. With your knife take portions of the colors you want
to mix to a clean spot on your palette. Then using the knife stir
the colors together turning the mixture over often. Wipe the knife
clean and mix the color again to make it even.

Palette knives clean the palette at the end of a session. Remove

the left over colors from your palette with a palette knife and put
them in a can for future safe disposal.

Thinner

Clean your brushes and your palette with CITRUS THINNER

(made with orange peels). Other odorless thinners are
inferior. Many people have avoided oil paint because of the
odor and toxicity of the turpentine that was necessary for
cleaning. Turpentine is no longer necessary. It is now used
only in the making of Damar varnish and retouch varnish.
To conserve the thinner and get the most use from it, make a thinner jar. A thinner jar cleans your brushes above the
residue of previous cleanings. Clean the brushes on the screen near the top of the thinner. (In this case an inverted can
with holes punched in it) Let the residue settle to the bottom. The level of the thinner should be half an inch above the
screen. The thinner will last this way for years. Keep it closed when not in use.

Medium

Medium is a term used to describe the liquid that is mixed with the pigment. Oil and pigment make
oil paint. If more liquid is added to a color it will flow more smoothly and become more translucent.
In most cases the paint consistency right out of the tube is perfect. Small detail, line work and sharp
edges, however, are easier with a little additional medium.

Adding linseed oil alone to a color will increase the flow but won't give the sharpest edges. Adding
thinner alone gives sharp edges but a chalky appearance. A medium of HALF CITRUS THINNER AND
HALF LINSEED OIL is best for most situations.

Canvas

Canvas is the traditional surface for oil paintings. Although oil paint can be used on most non-
porous surfaces the texture and flexibility of a stretched canvas is best. Many canvas surfaces are
available including canvas-textured paper, canvas glued to heavy board, primed canvas in a roll
and pre-stretched canvases. In ALL cases the surface should be primed or re-primed with GESSO
(See GESSO). A gesso that has a neutral gray tone is preferred so the light values are more easily
seen. (Acrylic paint will tone the gesso) If you prefer to use the gesso white, the canvas may later
be toned with a thin coat of oil paint.

Stretching Your Own Canvas

If you need a special size canvas, just want to make your own canvases you can easily build them yourself. First all canvas
is artist's canvas, whether it's from an art store, an upholsterer, a sail maker, awning maker or a fabric store. The weight
of the canvas used for paintings is number10 or number12 (about the weight of denim jeans).

To stretch the canvas a

wooden frame is used. For
small canvases up to 18" x
24" commercial stretcher
bars (A) may be used. For
larger sizes 1" x 2" fir stretchers (B) are used. 1"x 2" fir boards are available from lumber sellers. You'll have to cut them
and nail them up yourself.

The size of the canvas (B) here is to be 24" x 30." The short bars are 22 " to allow for the overlap of the longer bars.
Plus there is a center brace. The corners are braced with thin triangular plywood.

The canvas should be 6" wider and longer than the stretcher frame.

The canvas is stretched and tacked to the middle of the four sides using a staple gun or upholsterer's tacks and a hammer.
Then it's stretched and stapled toward the corners and the excess is trimmed. If you are using PRE-PRIMED canvas you'll
need CANVAS PLIERS to stretch it tight enough. Sizing or gesso won't tighten it further.
 (A) The porous canvas must now be sealed (or
sized). The traditional material for this is RABBIT
SKIN GLUE. The glue comes as dry crystals. One
tablespoon of glue is added to each cup of water
and cooked (not boiled) until smooth. The glue is
applied to the horizontal canvas while still hot.
The glue will tighten and seal the canvas. Let it
dry overnight. (Don't use the glue on pre-primed
canvas. It doesn't need it.)

(B) GESSO is applied when the glue is dry. This further seals the canvas and provides an agreeable surface for the oil
paint. This particular gesso was toned with a mixture of red-violet and yellow-green acrylic.

When dry the canvas may then be lightly sanded to remove any rough fibers remaining. Multiple coats of gesso may be
applied if desired. Gesso may be thinned with water to reduce brush strokes. The canvas is now ready to be a painting.

Gesso

Gesso is painted onto the canvas to seal and prime it before the oil paint is applied. The linseed oil in oil
paint will deteriorate an unprimed canvas. Gesso is the preferred sealer for the porous canvas. It is an
isolating layer between the canvas and the paint. It also provides a good surface texture for receiving the
paint. Once made from rabbit skin glue and chalk the improved version today is made from polymer
emulsion and titanium dioxide. All surfaces intended for oil paint will benefit from a base coat of gesso. If
you are stretching un-primed (raw) canvas you will want to use Rabbit skin glue as an additional sealer.
(See Canvas/Stretching your own canvas)

Pre-primed canvas that has been stretched will have small cracks that a new coat of gesso will seal. A
crack in the primer can create a discoloration through many layers of paint and leaves the canvas exposed
to deterioration.

Gesso is bright white and needs be toned down to a light neutral color for most paintings. Acrylic paints
are effective toners for the gesso. I recommend Liquitex Acrylic Gessos for priming a canvas.

Gesso may be applied in layers and lightly sanded between coats. Make the brush strokes horizontal for the first coat and
vertical for the next. The gesso may be thinned with water to reduce the texture of the brush strokes. It takes about an
hour to dry.

Saving Colors

Sometimes it is necessary or desirable to save a mixed color to be used again

later. In order to do that, you have to stop it from drying. Oil paint when
exposed to the air will dry in three days. Once dry it cannot be loosened. Oil
paint dries by oxidation. That means it takes oxygen molecules from the air.
These methods of preservation are all ways of keeping air away from the paint to
prevent it from drying.

The best way to preserve paint is to put it into an empty paint tube. This is good
if you need a lot of a particular color. It will last indefinitely this way. Load the
paint from the bottom of the tube. Tamp the tube on the palm of your hand to
get out air bubbles and seal the end.

Foil packs for smaller amounts of mixed color will preserve

a color for years. Seal out the air and label the color.

Plastic wrap can be put over your colors and the palette
frozen. This will preserve the colors for about ten days.

Plastic wrap can be put over your palette and will preserve
the mixed colors for up to four days. This is best on a glass
palette.

Colors can be put under water and will be good for three
days. All the water must removed before the paint is re-
used.
 Easel

Oil paint takes three days to dry. The long wet time makes it easier to work on the
painting vertically. An easel is used to hold the canvas in a vertical position. Easels
can be as simple as a nail in the wall on which to hang a canvas or a chair or a
windowsill. All easels serve the function of keeping the canvas secure and upright.

Pictured here on the right is the classic studio easel, the best for most purposes. In
the middle is tripod easel for small paintings or drawings. On the right a collapsible,
portable, paint box/easel designed for working outdoors.

Painting Media and Related Techniques

Painting Media and Related Techniques. Painting involves applying color to a surface. The colors were traditionally
earth pigments which were ground into a fine powder and then mixed with a medium, usually a liquid, so they can be
applied to a surface. Today there are also some artificial compounds used as pigments.

Media
Acrylics
Binder: acrylic polymer
Vehicle (solvent): water
Ground: prepared(gesso) or raw canvas, paper, wood, glass, etc.
Drys fast/permanent
Opaque/transluscent/transparent
Versatile media - can mimic oil, tempera, and watercolor

Oils
Binder: linseed oil
Vehicle (solvent): turpentine, mineral spirits
Ground: prepared canvas, paper, wood,
Drys slow/permanent
Opaque/transluscent/transparent
Versatile media

Tempera
Binder: gum arabic and water
Vehicle (solvent): water
Ground: paper, prepared wood panel
Drys fast/water soluble
opaque
dry, matte surface
Egg Tempera: egg yoke can be added to make it enamel-like and permanent

Watercolor
Binder: gum arabic and water
Vehicle (solvent): water
Ground: paper
Drys fast/water soluble
transparent to transluscent

Related Techniques

There are a variety of ways in which to approach creating a painting, none of which is better or more correct than another.
Which approach you take will to some extent be influenced by your painting style and personality.

As with all painting techniques, don't assume a particular approach won't work for you without having tried it. Nor do you
have to use only one in a painting, you're free to mix 'n match approaches if you wish.
 1. Blocking In

With a blocking-in first approach, the whole of the canvas is painted or worked up simultaneously. The
first step is to decide what the dominant colors and tones are, and to loosely paint these areas, or block
them in. Then gradually the shapes and colors are refined, more detail added, and tones finalized.

Blocking in is my favorite method of painting, as I rarely plan a painting in great detail before I start.
Instead I start with a broad idea or composition and refine it as I'm painting.

Blocking in makes it easy to adjust a composition without feeling I'm covering up or changing anything
that's so beautifully painted I can't lose it.

2. One Section at a Time

Some artists like to approach a painting one section a time, only moving onto another part
of the painting when this is totally finished. Some gradually work from one corner outwards,
finalizing a certain percentage or area of the canvas at a time. Others paint individual
elements in the painting, for example each item in a still life, one at a time. If you're using
acrylics and want to blend colors, it's worth trying.

This is an approach I use very rarely, but find useful when I know that I want to let part of
the foreground in a painting intrude into the background, such as waves dashing up a sea
cliff. When I don't want to have to try to fit the background in around the foreground right at
the end.

3. Detail First, Background Last

Some painters like to start with the detail, working up these areas to the finished state before painting
the background. Some like to get half or three-quarters of the way with the detail and then add the
background.

This is not an approach to use if you're uncertain of your brush control and worried you're going to
paint over something when you add the background. Having a background that goes around a subject,
or not quite up to it, will ruin a painting.

Tina Jones, whose painting Faces of Karen Hill is shown here, adds the background when she's at
about the halfway mark. After adding the background, she then made the colors of the skin and
clothing darker and richer, refined the overall shapes, and finally added hair.

4. Finish the Background First

If you paint the background first, it's done and you don't have to worry about it. Nor stress
trying to paint it up to your subject but not over it. But doing so means you need to have
planned it out, visualized the colors in it and how these fit with the subject of the painting.
Not that you can't change it later on the painting, of course.

5. Detailed Drawing, Then Paint

Some painters like to do a detailed drawing first, and only once they're totally satisfied
with this do they reach for their paints. You can either do it on a sheet of paper and then
transfer it to the canvas, or do it directly on the canvas. There is a strong argument to
be made for the fact that if you can't get the drawing right, your painting will never
work. But it's an approach not everyone enjoys.

Remember a paintbrush is not simply a tool for coloring-in shapes, but that the
direction of the brushmarks will influence the result. Even if you feel as if you're
coloring-in a drawing, it's not the kind a five-year-old will do (not even a gifted one).

6. Underpainting: Delayed Color

This is an approach that requires patience, and is not for anyone who's in a rush to get a
painting finished or to get the colors sorted. Instead, it involves first creating a monochrome
version of the painting that is as finished as the final painting will be, then glazing color over
this. For it to work, you need to glaze with transparent colors, not opaque. Otherwise the form
or definition created by light and dark tones of the underpainting will be lost.

Depending on what you use for the underpainting, it can be called different things. Grisaille =
greys or browns. Verdaccio = green-grays. Imprimatura = transparent underpainting.
 Painting Styles and Techniques

In most painting classes and online lessons, you'll have to pick and choose the techniques and styles offered to you. Not
with Learn & Master Painting. Here are a few of the techniques and styles you'll learn and master throughout the course.

You'll learn...

Alla Prima

An Italian phrase meaning "on the first"; the process of painting directly on the priming of the canvas with no
underpainting

Impressionism

Characterized by the artist's concentration on the general impression emanated by a scene or object and the use of
primary colors and small strokes to simulate actual reflected light.

Chiaroscuro

The process of blending light tones, mid-tones, and dark tones to show the roundness of form

Realism

The depiction of subjects as they appear in everyday life, without embellishment or interpretation

Impasto Painting

The application of thick, heavy paint using the brush or palette knife

Scumbling

The process of painting a semi-transparent color over another color

Wet into Wet

The technique of applying fresh, wet paint into an already wet area of paint

Styles and Techniques

Realism

Realism (or naturalism) in the arts is the attempt to represent subject matter truthfully, without artificiality and
avoiding artistic conventions, implausible, exotic and supernatural elements.

Realism has been prevalent in the arts at many periods, and is in large part a matter of technique and training, and the
avoidance of stylization. In the visual arts, illusionistic realism is the accurate depiction of lifeforms, perspective, and the
details of light and colour. Realist works of art may emphasize the ugly or sordid, such as works of social realism,
regionalism, or Kitchen sink realism.

There have been various realism movements in the arts, such as the opera style of verismo, literary realism, theatrical
realism and Italian neorealist cinema. The realism art movement in painting began in France in the 1850s, after the 1848
Revolution.[1] The realist painters rejected Romanticism, which had come to dominate French literature and art, with roots
in the late 18th century.

Techniques
What many people mean when they say they'd like to learn to paint, is they'd like to learn to paint realism. To create a
painting where the subject looks like it does in real life, or "real". It's only when you're up close you see the skillful
manipulation of color, tone, and perspective to create the illusion of reality.

1. Painting Takes Days not Hours

Painting realism takes time. Expect to spend days and weeks, not merely a few hours on a painting. You can't paint
detailed realism and also want to knock off a painting every afternoon unless you're painting a small canvas with
something simple like a single apple.

2. Accurate Perspective is Crucial

If the perspective is wrong, the painting won't look right not matter how beautifully it is. Get the perspective accurate
before getting into the fine detail. Check the perspective regularly as you're painting to ensure it remains accurate.
3. Shadow aren't Black
Shadows aren't solid black. Shadows aren't shapes of darker color painted right at the end after you've done everything
else. Shadows aren't the identical color or tone in all areas of the composition. Shadows are integral parts of the
composition and should be painted at the same time as everything else. Spend as much time observing the subtle shifts in
color in shadow areas as you do in the non-shadow parts.

4. Eyesight Realism Not Camera Realism

Don't take a single photo and turn it into a painting. Not because it's "cheating" but because your eye doesn't see the
same as a camera. Your eye sees more detailed color, your eye doesn't frame the scene in standard proportions, your eye
doesn't have a depth of field that's dependent on a setting. A realistic landscape will be "in focus" all the way to the
horizon, not blur out of focus as a photo with a narrow depth of field will.

5. Color is Relative
Color isn't a set thing. It's relative to what's next to it, what kind of light is shining on it, whether the surface if reflective
or matte. Depending on the light and time of day "green" grass can be quite yellow or blue; it's never a simple match to a
single tube of green paint.

6. Compelling Composition
A subject painted with great technical skill isn't enough to make a good painting. The choice of subject needs to speak to
the viewer, to grab their attention and compel them to keep looking. Spend time considering the composition of your
painting, what you're going to include and how you're going to arrange it. Work it out before you start painting and you'll
save yourself anguish in the long run.
Painting realism isn't about copying the world as it is. It's about selecting and composing a slice of reality. Canaletto's
paintings of Venice, for instance, may look real but in fact various buildings are painted from different points of view to
make a stronger composition.

Impressionism
Impressionism is a 19th century artistic movement that swept much of the painting and sculpture styles of the period. It
was not just a passing fad but has defined an entirely modern way of expressing ones artistry that eventually rubbed of in
other art forms like literature and photography.
Impressionist painting characteristics include relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes, open composition, emphasis
on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage of time), ordinary
subject matter, inclusion of movement as a crucial element of human perception and experience, and unusual visual
angles. The development of Impressionism in the visual arts was soon followed by analogous styles in other media that
became known as impressionist music and impressionist literature.

Techniques
French painters who prepared the way for Impressionism include the Romantic colourist Eugne Delacroix, the leader of
the realists Gustave Courbet, and painters of the Barbizon school such as Thodore Rousseau. The Impressionists learned
much from the work of Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot and Eugne Boudin, who painted from nature in a style that was
similar to Impressionism, and who befriended and advised the younger artists.

A number of identifiable techniques and working habits contributed to the innovative style of the Impressionists. Although
these methods had been used by previous artistsand are often conspicuous in the work of artists such as Frans Hals,
Diego Velzquez, Peter Paul Rubens, John Constable, and J. M. W. Turnerthe Impressionists were the first to use them
all together, and with such consistency. These techniques include:

Short, thick strokes of paint quickly capture the essence of the subject, rather than its details. The paint is often applied
impasto.
Colours are applied side-by-side with as little mixing as possible, a technique that exploits the principle of simultaneous
contrast to make the colour appear more vivid to the viewer.
Grays and dark tones are produced by mixing complementary colours. Pure impressionism avoids the use of black paint.

Wet paint is placed into wet paint without waiting for successive applications to dry, producing softer edges and
intermingling of colour.
Impressionist paintings do not exploit the transparency of thin paint films (glazes), which earlier artists manipulated
carefully to produce effects. The impressionist painting surface is typically opaque.
The paint is applied to a white or light-coloured ground. Previously, painters often used dark grey or strongly coloured
grounds.

The play of natural light is emphasized. Close attention is paid to the reflection of colours from object to object. Painters
often worked in the evening to produce effets de soirthe shadowy effects of evening or twilight.

In paintings made en plein air (outdoors), shadows are boldly painted with the blue of the sky as it is reflected onto
surfaces, giving a sense of freshness previously not represented in painting. (Blue shadows on snow inspired the
technique.)

New technology played a role in the development of the style. Impressionists took advantage of the mid-century
introduction of premixed paints in tin tubes (resembling modern toothpaste tubes), which allowed artists to work more
spontaneously, both outdoors and indoors. Previously, painters made their own paints individually, by grinding and mixing
dry pigment powders with linseed oil, which were then stored in animal bladders.

Many vivid synthetic pigments became commercially available to artists for the first time during the 19th century. These
included cobalt blue, viridian, cadmium yellow, and synthetic ultramarine blue, all of which were in use by the 1840s,
before Impressionism. The Impressionists' manner of painting made bold use of these pigments, as well as even newer
colours such as cerulean blue, which became commercially available to artists in the 1860s

The Impressionists' progress toward a brighter style of painting was gradual. During the 1860s, Monet and Renoir
sometimes painted on canvases prepared with the traditional red-brown or grey ground. By the 1870s, Monet, Renoir, and
Pissarro usually chose to paint on grounds of a lighter grey or beige colour, which functioned as a middle tone in the
finished painting. By the 1880s, some of the Impressionists had come to prefer white or slightly off-white grounds, and no
longer allowed the ground colour a significant role in the finished painting.

Pointilism

Pointillism is a technique of painting in which small, distinct dots of color are applied in patterns to form an image.
Georges Seurat and Paul Signac developed the technique in 1886, branching from Impressionism. The term "Pointillism"
was first coined by art critics in the late 1880s to ridicule the works of these artists, and is now used without its earlier
mocking connotation.[1] The technique is also known as Divisionism. The movement Seurat began with this technique is
known as Neo-Impressionism.

Pointillism is the painting technique in which dots of unmixed, pure color are juxtaposed on the canvas. The dots blend
together in your eye to create tones when you look at the painting from a distance. The French Neo-Impressionist painter
George Seurat is credited with developing Pointillism.

The Italian equivalent, also developed from the studies being done in optical science, is known as Divisionism.
One of the main differences is that Divionists used longer brush-strokes, more like a small comma, rather than a small dot
or square of paint. Another is the type of subject matter painted, with Pointillists generally painting urban life and secular
scenes, whereas Divisionists often painted social themes and used Christian symbolism.

Divisionism

Divisionism (also called Chromoluminarism) was the characteristic style in Neo-Impressionist painting defined by the
separation of colors into individual dots or patches which interacted optically.

In fine art painting, the term Divisionism (also called Chromoluminarism) refers to the theory behind Neo-Impressionism -
a style of modern art which involved the separation of colours into individual dots or patches which - once on the canvas -
interacted optically in the viewer's eye. By advocating the application of small touches of pure colour onto the canvas (thus
making the viewer's eye 'mix' the different colours optically), instead of physically mixing colour pigments on a palette and
then applying them to the canvas, Divisionists believed they were able to attain the maximum possible luminosity. The
first artist to systematically develop the theory of Divisionism was Georges Seurat (1859-91), the meticulous master of
drawing, whose family wealth allowed him to experiment with chromoluminarism and other scientific theories of colour
propounded by scientists like Michel Eugene Chevreul, Charles Blanc, David Sutter, Hermann von Helmholtz and Ogden
Rood. An offshoot of Divisionism was the style known as Pointillism (after the French word 'point' for dot), which is
characterized by the use of dots of paint. The two most famous examples of French Divisionism, both by Seurat, are the
paintings A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte (188486, oil on canvas, Art Institute of Chicago), and
Bathers at Asnieres (1884, National Gallery, London).

Techniques
The technique relies on the ability of the eye and mind of the viewer to blend the color spots into a fuller range of tones. It
is related to Divisionism, a more technical variant of the method. Divisionism is concerned with color theory, whereas
pointillism is more focused on the specific style of brushwork used to apply the paint. It is a technique with few serious
practitioners today, and is notably seen in the works of Seurat, Signac and Cross. However, see also Andy Warhol's early
works, and Pop Art.

Fauvism

Fauvism is the style of les Fauves (French for "the wild beasts"), a loose group of early twentieth-century Modern artists
whose works emphasized painterly qualities and strong color over the representational or realistic values retained by
Impressionism.

Techniques
Fauve artists used pure, brilliant colour aggressively applied straight from the paint tubes to create a sense of an explosion
on the canvas.

The Fauves painted directly from nature, as the Impressionists had before them, but Fauvist works were invested with a
strong expressive reaction to the subjects portrayed. First formally exhibited in Paris in 1905, Fauvist paintings shocked
visitors to the annual Salon dAutomne; one of these visitors was the critic Louis Vauxcelles, who, because of the violence
of their works, dubbed the painters fauves (wild beasts).

Cubism

Cubism is an early-20th-century avant-garde art movement pioneered by Georges Braque and Pablo Picasso, joined by
Jean Metzinger, Albert Gleizes, Robert Delaunay, Henri Le Fauconnier, Fernand Lger and Juan Gris that revolutionized
European painting and sculpture, and inspired related movements in music, literature and architecture. Cubism has been
considered the most influential art movement of the 20th century. The term is broadly used in association with a wide
variety of art produced in Paris (Montmartre, Montparnasse and Puteaux) during the 1910s and extending through the
1920s. Variants such as Futurism and Constructivism developed in other countries.

A primary influence that led to Cubism was the representation of three-dimensional form in the late works of Paul
Czanne, which were displayed in a retrospective at the 1907 Salon d'Automne. In Cubist artwork, objects are analyzed,
broken up and reassembled in an abstracted forminstead of depicting objects from one viewpoint, the artist depicts the
subject from a multitude of viewpoints to represent the subject in a greater context.

Techniques
The Cubist style emphasized the flat, two-dimensional surface of the picture plane, rejecting the traditional techniques of
perspective, foreshortening, modeling, and chiaroscuro and refuting time-honoured theories of art as the imitation of
nature. Cubist painters were not bound to copying form, texture, colour, and space; instead, they presented a new reality
in paintings that depicted radically fragmented objects, whose several sides were seen simultaneously.

Futurism

Futurism (Italian: Futurismo) was an artistic and social movement that originated in Italy in the early 20th century. It
emphasized and glorified themes associated with contemporary concepts of the future, including speed, technology, youth
and violence, and objects such as the car, the aeroplane and the industrial city. It was largely an Italian phenomenon,
though there were parallel movements in Russia, England and elsewhere. The Futurists practised in every medium of art,
including painting, sculpture, ceramics, graphic design, industrial design, interior design, urban design, theatre, film,
fashion, textiles, literature, music, architecture and even gastronomy. Key figures of the movement include the Italians
Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, Umberto Boccioni, Carlo Carr, Gino Severini, Giacomo Balla, Antonio Sant'Elia, Bruno Munari,
Benedetta Cappa and Luigi Russolo, and the Russians Natalia Goncharova, Velimir Khlebnikov, Igor Severyanin, David
Burliuk, Aleksei Kruchenykh and Vladimir Mayakovsky, as well as the Portuguese Almada Negreiros. Its members aimed to
liberate Italy from the weight of its past, to glorify modernity. Important works include its seminal piece of the literature,
Marinetti's Manifesto of Futurism, as well as Boccioni's sculpture, Unique Forms of Continuity in Space, and Balla's
painting, Abstract Speed + Sound (pictured). Futurism influenced art movements such as Art Deco, Constructivism,
Surrealism, Dada, and to a greater degree, Precisionism, Rayonism, and Vorticism.

Techniques
The Futurists were taking the idea of the Cubists one step further. The Cubists tried to show a subject from all sides at
once and the Futurists tried to show it in motion.
They were both very interested in the results of the industrail revolution and the new inventions that were tranforming the
world. Streamlined trains, and motor cars were made to go fast and the sleek designs were modern and devoid of
unessecary ornament. That modern wind swept style with a hint of cubism came across in Boccioni's sculptures and
Delaunay's paintings and prints.
They explored every medium of art, including painting, sculpture, poetry, theatre, music, architecture and even
gastronomy.

Constructivism
Constructivism is a theory of knowledge (epistemology) that argues that humans generate knowledge and meaning from
an interaction between their experiences and their ideas. It has influenced a number of disciplines, including psychology,
sociology, education and the history of science. During infancy, it was an interaction between human experiences and their
reflexes or behavior-patterns. Jean Piaget called these systems of knowledge schemata. Constructivism is not a specific
pedagogy, although it is often confused with constructionism, an educational theory developed by Seymour Papert,
inspired by constructivist and experiential learning ideas of Piaget. Piaget's theory of constructivist learning has had wide
ranging impact on learning theories and teaching methods in education and is an underlying theme of many education
reform movements. Research support for constructivist teaching techniques has been mixed, with some research
supporting these techniques and other research contradicting those results.

Techniques
In constructivist theory, it is assumed that learners have to construct their own knowledgeindividually and collectively.
Each learner has a repertoire of conceptions and skills with which she or he must construct knowledge to solve problems
presented by the environment. The role of the teacher and other learners is to provide the setting, pose the challenges,
and offer the support that will encourage cognitive construction.
Neo-Plasticism

De Stijl (/d stal/; Dutch pronunciation: [d stil]), Dutch for "The Style", also known as neoplasticism, was a Dutch
artistic movement founded in 1917 in Amsterdam. The De Stijl consisted of artists and architects. In a narrower sense, the
term De Stijl is used to refer to a body of work from 1917 to 1931 founded in the Netherlands.

De Stijl is also the name of a journal that was published by the Dutch painter, designer, writer, and critic Theo van
Doesburg (18831931) that served to propagate the group's theories. Next to van Doesburg, the group's principal
members were the painters Piet Mondrian (18721944), Vilmos Huszr (18841960), and Bart van der Leck (18761958),
and the architects Gerrit Rietveld (18881964), Robert van 't Hoff (18871979), and J. J. P. Oud (18901963). The artistic
philosophy that formed a basis for the group's work is known as neoplasticismthe new plastic art (or Nieuwe Beelding in
Dutch).

Proponents of De Stijl advocated pure abstraction and universality by a reduction to the essentials of form and colour; they
simplified visual compositions to the vertical and horizontal directions, and used only primary colors along with black and
white. Indeed, according to the Tate Gallery's online article on neoplasticism, Mondrian himself sets forth these
delimitations in his essay "Neo-Plasticism in Pictorial Art". He writes, "this new plastic idea will ignore the particulars of
appearance, that is to say, natural form and colour. On the contrary, it should find its expression in the abstraction of form
and colour, that is to say, in the straight line and the clearly defined primary colour". The Tate article further summarizes
that this art allows "only primary colours and non-colours, only squares and rectangles, only straight and horizontal or
vertical line." The Guggenheim Museum's online article on De Stijl summarizes these traits in similar terms: "It [De Stijl]
was posited on the fundamental principle of the geometry of the straight line, the square, and the rectangle, combined
with a strong asymmetricality; the predominant use of pure primary colors with black and white; and the relationship
between positive and negative elements in an arrangement of non-objective forms and lines".

In fine art, the term "neo-plasticism" refers to the austere, geometrical style of concrete art developed by the Dutch
painter Piet Mondrian (1872-1944) just after the First World War. The word is a meaningless translation of the complex
Dutch phrase nieuwe beelding, first used by the writer Matthieu Schoenmaekers in his book Het Nieuwe Wereldbeeld (The
New Image of the World), and re-used by Mondrian in his theoretical essay De Nieuwe Beelding in de Schilderkunst, before
he adopted the French translation Neo-Plasticisme from which the English term is taken. A better translation is simply
"New Art" - mainly because it described Mondrian's vision of an ideal, pure form of art and design, which he felt the post-
war circumstances demanded. It was to be a pure type of abstract art that adhered to strict rules of composition. To start
with, it was promoted by De Stijl - the mouthpiece of the avant-garde art movement of the same name - edited by Theo
van Doesburg (1883-1931) and read by abstract painters, designers, abstract sculptors and architects in Holland, and
across Europe. Although no more than a loose association, the De Stijl movement included such artists as the Dutch
painter Bart van der Leck (1876-1958), the Hungarian-born graphic artist Vilmos Huszar (18841960), the Belgian
sculptor Georges Vantongerloo (1886-1965), the furniture designer Gerrit Rieveld (1888-1964) and the German painter
Friedrich Vordemberge-Gildewart (1899-1962), as well as the architects Robert van 't Hoff (18871979) and J.J.P. Oud
(18901963).

Techniques
Technically, an important predecessor is surrealism, with its emphasis on spontaneous, automatic or subconscious
creation. Jackson Pollock's dripping paint onto a canvas laid on the floor is a technique that has its roots in the work of
Andr Masson, Max Ernst and David Alfaro Siqueiros. Another important early manifestation of what came to be abstract
expressionism is the work of American Northwest artist Mark Tobey, especially his "white writing" canvases, which, though
generally not large in scale, anticipate the "all-over" look of Pollock's drip paintings.

Abstract Expressionism

Abstract expressionism is a postWorld War II art movement in American painting, developed in New York in the 1940s. It
was the first specifically American movement to achieve international influence and put New York City at the center of the
western art world, a role formerly filled by Paris.
Abstract expressionism has many stylistic similarities to the Russian artists of the early 20th century such as Wassily
Kandinsky. Although it is true that spontaneity or the impression of spontaneity characterized many of the abstract
expressionists works, most of these paintings involved careful planning, especially since their large size demanded it.

Techniques

Artists also developed new techniques to apply paint, such as moving the canvas from the easel to the floor and working
on unstretched and unprimed canvas. With these unconventional ways of painting, the Abstract Expressionists sought new
forms of self-expression and personal freedom in their work.

Abstract Expressionists, maintained a balance of chaos and control. For example, Franz Klines large black-and-white
canvases seem impulsive and full of energy, but he often sketched the compositions out first.

Surrealism

Surrealism is a cultural movement that began in the early 1920s, and is best known for its visual artworks and writings.
The aim was to "resolve the previously contradictory conditions of dream and reality."
Surrealism developed out of the Dada activities during World War I and the most important center of the movement was
Paris. From the 1920s onward, the movement spread around the globe, eventually affecting the visual arts, literature, film,
and music of many countries and languages, as well as political thought and practice, philosophy, and social theory.

Techniques
The techniques used to create abstract art consist of either a pattern or random system of lines, shapes, colors, or
splatters of paint. The overall flow of design needs to always be kept in the back of your mind as you add more and more
to your creation. Your art techniques will be much like following a method of steps. Creating your own method will develop
over time. Go to your nearest art supply store for utensils and paints needed, or order online by using any of the links
toward the bottom of the site. For now, here is a list to help along.

STEP 1: Foundation This is the Outline of what you will be painting and it can be sketched onto a canvas with a
charcoal pencil since it is easy to erase. Dust off any extra charcoal remains before proceeding to the next step.

STEP 2: Bottom Color This is also called the Under Color. This is the first layer of color you will be applying to your
painting, such as a background color. You can thin out the paint by adding a small amount of turpentine to the color you
are using. Follow the directions on the side of the turpentine bottle for proper dosage and use.

STEP 3: Top Color This is where you will start painting out the framework of your images over the Bottom Color. For
example, if you are wanting to paint an abstract image of a cat, then this is when you would start painting the cat.

STEP 4: Specifics This is when you would add all the Details to your painting, such as the cat's eye color, whiskers, or
whatever small details that you find necessary before determining its completion. Do whatever you want! This is Your
masterpiece, so going back to the example of painting a cat, if you don't want to add whiskers to the cat, then don't! If
you would rather add wings to its back, then go ahead! Nobody is the boss except you during your art projects.

Symbolism

Symbolism was a late nineteenth-century art movement of French, Russian and Belgian origin in poetry and other arts. In
literature, the style had its beginnings with the publication Les Fleurs du mal (The Flowers of Evil, 1857) by Charles
Baudelaire. The works of Edgar Allan Poe, which Baudelaire admired greatly and translated into French, were a significant
influence and the source of many stock tropes and images. The aesthetic was developed by Stphane Mallarm and Paul
Verlaine during the 1860s and '70s. In the 1880s, the aesthetic was articulated by a series of manifestos and attracted a
generation of writers. The name "symbolist" itself was first applied by the critic Jean Moras, who invented the term to
distinguish the symbolists from the related decadents of literature and of art.

Distinct from, but related to, the style of literature, symbolism of art is related to the gothic component of Romanticism.

Techniques
The symbolist poets wished to liberate techniques of versification in order to allow greater room for "fluidity", and as such
were sympathetic with the trend toward free verse.
The earlier Romanticism of poetry used symbols, but these symbols were unique and privileged objects. The symbolists
were more extreme, investing all things, even vowels and perfumes, with potential symbolic value. "The physical universe,
then, is a kind of language that invites a privileged spectator to decipher it, although this does not yield a single message
so much as a superior network of associations.

Minimalism

In the visual arts and music, minimalism is a style that uses pared-down design elements.

Minimalism in the arts began in postWorld War II Western Art, most strongly with American visual arts in the 1960s and
early 1970s. Prominent artists associated with minimalism include Donald Judd, John McCracken, Agnes Martin, Dan
Flavin, Robert Morris, Anne Truitt, and Frank Stella. It derives from the reductive aspects of Modernism and is often
interpreted as a reaction against Abstract expressionism and a bridge to Postminimal art practices.

Minimalism in music features repetition and iteration such as those of the compositions of La Monte Young, Terry Riley,
Steve Reich, Philip Glass, and John Adams. Minimalist compositions are sometimes known as systems music. The term
"minimalist" often colloquially refers to anything that is spare or stripped to its essentials. It has also been used to
describe the plays and novels of Samuel Beckett, the films of Robert Bresson, the stories of Raymond Carver, and the
automobile designs of Colin Chapman. The word was first used in English in the early 20th century to describe "a 1913
composition by the Russian painter Kasimir Malevich of a black square on a white ground".

Techniques
The Minimalist works absence of pizzazz in technique allows the viewer to become immediately part of the canvas. The art
composition is simplified by reducing the number of colors, lines, values, textures, and shapes so that the observer can
readily identify the central concept or message. The experience of wondering what the painting means is absent. The
works of the American artist, Frank Stella, provide a great example of Minimalism.