Painting is the practice of applying pigment suspended
in a carrier (or medium) and a
binding agent (a glue)
to a surface (support) such as paper, canvas or a wall.
This is done by a painter; this
term is used especially if this is his
or her profession.
Humans have been painting for about 6 times
as long as they have been using written
language.
One
possible process for decorative painting
of the walls of a room is found in Work
breakdown structure. The word painting is
used in the rest of this article with its fine art meaning.
More
specifically this article is about the
painting of a surface for artistic reasons,
considered by many to be among the most
important of the art forms.
History
of Painting
The
oldest known paintings are at the Grotte
Chauvet in France,
dated at about 32,000 years old. They are
engraved and painted using red ochre and
black pigment and show horses, rhinoceros,
lions, buffalo and mammoth. There are examples
of cave painting occurring
all over the world.
Today,
many of the world's most recognized works
of art, such as the Mona Lisa,
are paintings. There exists some slight
controversy as to whether or not works
of art produced in non-traditional ways,
or with non-traditional materials, can
properly be called paintings. In a general
sense artists using sound, light, fireworks,
ink-jet pigment, computer monitor pixels and even
pastel or pencil all
have the same intentions as the more expected
water, oil, gouache or egg tempera painters.
The resulting work of art is often referred
to as a painting.
About
paint
Paint can be composed
of pigment, medium, binder and perhaps
drying accelerants or retarders, texture
enhancers, stablizers and other modifiers.
When applied to canvas, a ground (a
primer coat - often gesso) is usually
laid on first to improve adherance of the
paint and reduce its wicking into the canvas.
While
typically the pigments in paint are supposed
to be permanent, some painters have used
paint with fugitive
pigments.
Tools of the painter
include the various types of:
as
well as charcoal, graphite pencil, rags
or paper towel, mirror (an old
painter's trick to force a review of a
problem painting from a new perspective,
as well as for self portraits), turpentine or
oderless paint thinner (often used in a
mixture with oil as the medium), a model
or subject stand and possibly studio lighting.
Painting
techniques
Painting
techniques include:
Paint
mediums
The medium is the
vehicle that the pigment is suspended or
embedded in. Almost all drawing mediums
can be used in painting as well.
Examples
include:
Popular
painting styles
Painting
Styles can be characterized by the
method of application (loose or tight)
or by referring to the art movement that
most closely matches the predominant
characteristics that the painting expresses.
They include:
Common
painting idioms
Painting
idioms include:
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