Objectives

“Painting” describes the characteristics of paint and the various painting methods that artists employ. Paint is composed of three components: pigment (a powdered coloring agent), binder or medium (liquid that holds pigment together), and a vehicle (liquid that aids in the spreading of the paint). The binder that is used affects the characteristics of the paint and affects which vehicle may be used. The process of painting has not changed over time, but the materials and techniques have. Today, artists have many more pigments available to them than they did in the past and a wider variety of binders, vehicles, brushes, and supports. This chapter describes each of the different types of paint: watercolor, oil, tempera, acrylic, and fresco. Depending on what choices the artists make among these materials, they can achieve an almost limitless variety of effects.

After reading this chapter, you should be able to:

• List and define the components of paint.
• List and define the types of painting media, each according to its own set of characteristics.
• List and explain ways painting techniques differ from one culture to another and one artist to another.
• List and explain ways traditional painting techniques are now combined with other materials and nontraditional supports.
• Identify and summarize the pros and cons of various painting media and techniques.
• Compare and contrast variations among different artists' techniques.
• List each artist's name and describe each artist's method of painting, to the extent they were presented in Chapter 7.
• Discuss art as propaganda, as seen in the mural The Great Wall of Los Angeles.