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A peep into the history of painting reveals how different
painting techniques were used depending upon the urge of the artist.
These techniques have evolved over a period of time with the evolution
of artist’s nature, his instincts and the way he wanted to express his
art. Let us look at some of these techniques.
“Gestural abstraction” or “Action painting” as it was often called is a
style where paint is liberally splashed onto the medium in a random
manner. All of us have used this method at one time or the other when we
were kids.. Airbrushes as the name implies sprays ink, dye , paint on
the media, designing it according to our taste. Arfe’ creates art works
by staining the medium with coffee. Some Indian artists like Mira
Chudasama and Amita chudasama paint using this technique.
Painting techniques using brush and ink is more oriental in nature. Wash
painting originated in China and slowly spread to Japan. In this
technique, the ink was ground by the artist himself and the basic
material used was charcoal ash which was got from bamboo or pine. Water
was mixed with this ash and ground to a smooth consistency until the
desired concentration was attained.
Hot wax painting or Encaustic painting as it is called uses a
combination of beeswax and colored pigments. Some encaustic mixtures
contain damar resin, linseed oil or other types of waxes. Metal tools
and special brushes or heated tools are used as wax solidifies when it
cools.
Fresco-secco is a technique where dry plaster is moistened and water
colors are added to it. In Fresco painting, the colors are added to
plaster which is still wet. Application of glazes is quite common in
painting for the Creating of transparent mediums.
Scumble is a technique which closely resembles glazing, the only
difference being is that the coating is opaque. Sometimes the paint is
laid heavily on the medium and is actually mixed directly on it. This is
called as Impasto. Oils and Acrylics can be given this treatment.
Imprimatura is the creation of a bottom layer over which subsequent
layers of paint are applied without covering it completely. The under
layering method is often used in indirect painting. Verdaccio and
grissaile are examples of this technique.
Wet-On-Wet as the name suggests is the application of lighter colors on
darker ones when the latter is still wet. This form of painting is very
convenient when the painter wants to blend colors. If the painter wants
the paint to stay on the medium he does not use water to mix his colors.
By dipping the brush in the color and using a dry brush on the paper, he
can ensure that the paint stays the way he wants it to stay. There is
another technique which painters often use. It is called as negative
painting. Here the object is not painted, but the surrounding areas are.
This ensures that the object becomes visible.
Indirect painting was often resorted to by Rembrandt and Rubens.
Painters can construct their painting grading the coloring from dark to
light or from light to dark. If no gradation is needed, the initial
layer will be opaque. Direct painting as the name indicates is using
paint in an opaque manner in a single application. The Impressionists
used this form of painting in the initial works.
Lost and found edges is essentially a watercolor technique where paint
is applied thickly on the paper and with a second wet brush, the initial
thick paint is drawn away from the edge, giving it a softer look.
Sfregazzi is used to create glazes over light areas by applying shadows.
Sfumato is resorted to when the painter wants to make gradual
transitions from light to dark.
Tempera painting is a method where the colors are mixed with egg yolk
and then applied to a prepared surface.
The Mughal Court Paintings for which Indian artists are very famous,
used a method in which watercolor was applied in an opaque manner on the
paper over the drawing so that the under drawing was visible. The
painting was burnished creating a smooth painting surface. More color
was added to the basic surface and the compositional elements added one
by one. The final outlines were done in black.
Apart from all these techniques in
learning art,
there are fun painting techniques like sponging, Ragging and Rag Rolling
and Broken color techniques. In Sponging, a solid coat of paint is
applied and when it dries a glaze is applied over it. This is done with
the help of a sponge which is wet. It helps to create a mottled look. In
Ragging or Rag Rolling, use a crumpled cloth instead of a sponge to
produce dramatic effects like crushed velvet. In The broken color
technique, more than one color is applied in broken layers over a base
color. This helps to give a textured effect.
Thus we see that there are many ways to produce the kind of effects that
we want. These techniques help to create a mood using light and dark. In
the same way, one can create values, shapes, textures, depth, white
areas by using one technique or the other. Of course, using a
particular technique is highly individualistic in nature, and is
governed solely by what the artist wants to do.
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