Thursday, February 07, 2008

Art Painting from photo by photo2all

There are different mediums to choose from when deciding to create painting. You can choose from the acrylic, pastel, watercolors and oils. If you are having a hard time trying to figure out what kind of medium to use, these article aims to compare the mediums. This will help you out in deciding what kind of medium will suit your style. There are different mediums to choose from when deciding to create painting. You can choose from the acrylic, pastel, watercolors and oils. If you are having a hard time trying to figure out what kind of medium to use, these article aims to compare the mediums. This will help you out in deciding what kind of medium will suit your style.Acrylic, oils and watercolors are not the only medium available for use, but they are however the most common one. Acrylics are paints that are made with synthetic resin to bind the pigments. Oils on the other hand use more natural materials such as poppy, linseed or walnut to bind the pigments. Watercolors on the other hand only use water soluble binding agents such as Arabic gum for pigmentations. Pastels are chalk sticks made of chalk and gum or oil. Painterly results can be achieved by using pastels and watercolors when they are crossed over.Other painting mediums that are used are tempera, gouache and encaustic. Gouache is a water soluble paint that uses glue to bind the pigments. The lighter tones in gouache are opaque not transparent because of the white pigment. Temperas are usually paints that have a binding agent that hardens, usual temperas contain egg yolk. Temperas became obsolete during the renaissance period but were used way back during the Egyptian period. Now, the temperas are popular mediums again. Encaustics are mediums that are made of wax that is melted and then is fused or fixed to the surface with heat. Advantages:Acrylics – dries fast. The underlying layers can not be disturbed when painted over and dried. It is also water resistant (good for murals) and also as glue (good for collage). Acrylics can be mixed with water or mediums and gels. The brushes used with acrylic paint can be cleaned using water only.Oils – dries slow. Because it dries slowly the painter can have lots of time to blend and mix the colors. It has rich and deep colors which can maintain the intensity even when dried already. Watercolors – paints can be lifted of by rewetting it. Adding water to paint dried in a tube can still be reusable. Pastels – since they are like crayons, they would no longer be needed to dry. They are blended and mixed on paper. They have lots of colors to choose from, no brushes needed to clean, and easy to use. When thinned and blended with turpentine, underneath colors called sgraffito are revealed. Disadvantages:Acrylics- once the paint has been dried it can no longer be removed by rewetting the paint. Since it dries very fast, one would need to speed up his work. It is also difficult to clean of the brush once dried completely.Oils – must be able o find a well ventilated area because it is always used with solvents. It dries very slowly so it would be a disadvantage for impatient people unless they can work on various paintings at the same time. Several months would be needed before varnish is applied. The brushes would also need to be cleaned by solvents.Watercolors – it will be hard to hide the mistakes or correct the mistakes. No white paint in watercolor. Pastels – requires great range of colors to create a picture. The softness and pigments vary depending on the brand. Smudging and pastels come off when soft pastels are used to work with. Prevent this by using a spray-on fixative, frame it with a mount that keeps it away from the glass or tape a piece of tracing paper.To make sure that you are finally choosing the right medium, try them all out. What medium makes you excel or your painting looks better will ultimately be the deciding factor that you use.
By jack wu [ 02/02/2007 ][ viewed 70 times ]

No comments: