The following vocabulary list introduces familiar and new terminology for your review and awareness. These ideas will broaden your work and add confidence to explore new horizons in painting. It is quite relevant to our course - please review and get to know these terms. They relate to all that we do in painting.
Alla prima - A painting technique used by the impressionists where a work was usually completed in one sitting with opaque layers of paint. Many impressionist works were painted directly from nature. (see Monet)
Analogous colors - Related colors that lie adjacent on the color wheel such as blue, blue-violet, and violet. Analogous colors share the same primary color.
Binder - An ingredient in paint which allows it to bind to a surface. A drying oil, such as linseed, is a binder for oil paint. In acrylic paints, the binder is acrylic polymer emulsion.
Blending - The process of mixing adjacent colors to eliminate abrupt divisions and create a smooth gradation from one color to the next. Because of their slow drying time, oil paints are ideal for blending colors.
Chiaroscuro - An Italian term meaning, "light-dark", chiaroscuro refers to substantial changes of light in a painting that contribute to creating dramatic mood in a work. Chiaroscuro became popular in the baroque period. (see Carravaggio)
Complement and Complementary Color - In color, any hue that is directly opposite on the color wheel. Dabbing - A painting technique used by impressionist painters where short strokes of paint are applied to the
surface. Dabbing was done in layers and contributed to the flickering effect of impressionist works. (see Pisarro)
Fresco - Fresco is a type of mural painting done on fresh lime plaster. Pigments are absorbed into the moist wall 3
and become integrated into the surface. (see the Sistine Chapel ceiling)
Gesso - Originally used in fresco painting, gesso referred to various mixtures of coarse and smooth plasters that were applied in layers in preparation for painting. Later, gesso (or gypsum) was added to rabbit skin glue to create gesso sotile (soft) for panel painting. Today, the gesso most artists use is a blend of polymer emulsion and white chalk and is used for both oil and acrylic painting on either panels or canvasses.
Glazing - Is the process of layering thin transparencies of paint. Glazes create luminous effects because light can pass through them and reflect back from the surface of the painting. In oil painting, most glazes are made from a combination of oil, damar varnish, solvent, and small amounts of paint. Today, many glaze mediums are made with alkyd-based resins to allow for both low toxicity and fast drying. In acrylics, glazes are made from a mixture of polymer media and small amounts of paint. (see Dutch still - life painting)
Ground - The initial layer or surface of the painting which serves as a barrier between the canvas and the paint. Before the use of acrylic gesso, grounds were applied to canvas, while gesso (see gesso sotile) was used on rigid supports. Grounds can be textured, colorful, neutral, opaque, or transparent depending on the surface the artists wants to use. Before the impressionists, most paintings were done on a prepared ground, either imprimatura or toned.
Impasto - Impasto is a thick application of paint. Rembrandt used impasto for highlights in a painting. This technique added both spatial and expressive qualities to his work. Later, painters such as Van Gogh used impasto throughout the entire canvas. Today, acrylics are often used for impasto applications because they dry quickly and are easy to cleanup.
Intensity - is created by the density of pigment in a particular paint. Intense colors are also known as saturated colors. Mixed colors tend to loose their intensity -- which is why many painters prefer to use pure tube colors rather than mixtures. (see Vermeer)
Local color - The "actual" naturalistic color of an object -- as opposed to subjective color which is exaggerated or invented.
Matte - A dull surface as opposed to a shiny surface.
Medium – combination of oils and thinner | makes paint spread smoother | makes mixing paint colors together.
Opaque - An application of media that completely covers, for example, any underneath drawing or color. The opposite of transparent, light cannot pass through anything that is opaque.
Pulling - A painting technique whereby paint is removed by a rag or brush to expose areas beneath the outermost layer of paint. Pulling is also used to create marks on a surface.
Shade - Colors which have been darkened by adding black.
Scumbling - A technique where paint is lightly dragged over a dry surface. Scumbling does not entirely cover the
surface and allows underneath areas to show through. Tint - Colors which have been lightened by adding white.
Underpainting - One of the most widely employed Old Masters painting techniques , underpainting is the preliminary process that allows the artist to render the outline, define the composition, and set the tonal atmosphere of his or her painting. Underpainting creates a neutrally colored version, i.e. terra cotta, of the final painting using tempera or oils. Underpainting is usually monochromatic but may also be colored.
Value - In art, the relative darkness or lightness of tints, shades, and colors. White is the lightest, or the value with the highest key; black is the darkest, or the value with the lowest key.
Varnish - A mixture of solvent and a resin, such as damar or alkyd. Varnishes are used to create an even gloss or matte finish over a surface which restores the original appearance of wet paint. In acrylics, gloss or matte mediums serve as varnishes.
Wash - A thinned paint made from a solvent (as in the case of oil paint) or water (as in the case of acrylics). Washes are different from glazes, because they are not made by adding more paint binder, such as linseed oil or acrylic polymer emulsion. In painting with oils or acrylics, washes should only be used in the initial blocking-in stages of the painting.
Wet in wet - A technique of painting when wet (or oily) paint is applied onto a wet or oily surface. This is essential for blending colors. Painting is often done by applying paint directly onto wet surfaces so blending and color mixing can be done directly on the canvas rather than on the palette.
COLOR DISCUSSION | DEMO | EXERCISE(S):
Basic Color theory Review
o Color wheel: primaries, secondary, tertiary
o Complements, triads, tetrads, analogous
o Numeric Powers of Color: Saturation and extension (Itten) o Balance and evocation
o Warm/Cool; Push/Pull
o Color as light and shadow (through saturation)
o Key
o Simultaneous Contrast
Basic Color Mixing for painters
o Laying out a palette
o Creating earth and intermediate colors (mixing complements)
o Shades
o Tints
o Color Chart
General Painting Methods+Allied Strategies Indirect Painting:
Indirect painting involves procedures in which the final effects in a picture are built up gradually by placing several layers of paint, one over the other the upper layers modifying, but not altogether concealing, the lower layers. Indirect painters put their first strokes on the canvas with the expectation that they will paint over them again when they are dry in order to change their effect in some way.. Therefore when they put on the first layer of paint, called the underpainting, they do not try for a finished comp, complete in final color drawing definition, and pattern emphasis.
Instead at the beginning of the work they concentrate on one or two of these problems, and they depend upon (and make allowance for) the subsequent layers of paint to develop and modify the underpainting until the remaining problems are finally solved.
Indirect methods of painting have been employed in the past by many artists including Van Eyck, El Greco, and Rembrandt. More recently such painters as Soutine, Modigliani, Rouault, Braque, and Paul Klee have utilized the optical efects of indirect processes.
The existence of indirect painting arises from the fact that although paint may be used opaquely to conceal what is beneath it, I it can also be applied so as to be transparent, revealing to a greater or lesser extent what it covers. For example, an oil color such as cadmium red, in paste consistency may be brushed over an area of thoroughly dried yellow paint. If it is applied evenly and fairly heavily it will conceal the yellow color entirely - alternatively the red paint may be thinned with an appropriate diluent and may be spread so thinly over the dried yellow color that it lies over the yellow like a sheet of red cellophane, tinting the area a fiery orange color while allowing the shape and every surface brush mark on the yellow area to remain visible. The orange tone . obtained, by superimposing a layer of transparent red on an opaque yellow will differ considerably in optical character from an orange made by combining the same red and yellow pigments in direct mixture on the palette. The directly mixed tone will have a weighty solid opacity, whereas the orange tone produced through the indirect, or "optical," mixture of the two colors will have a more luminous vibration, rather like that seen in stained glass when light passes through it. By exploiting this characteristic of the oil technique, painters found that they could develop a brilliant luminosity whose exact character was unobtainable in the direct techniques. The procedures most commonly used in indirect painting are called glazing and scumbling.
Direct Painting:
This method of painting is used to make paintings in a single application. This is an opaque painting technique used by the Impressionists in their early work, the Fauves and the Abstract Expressionists. (But consider a painting made with transparent colors all in one layer a direct painting, too.) Direct painting relies on more planning because artists must consider form and color simultaneously.
A few guidelines:
~Paint from light to dark
~Vary brush marks from long stroke to short mark (like Cezanne's) to stippling, etc Scrubbing in multiple directions
~Scumbling with a near dry brush
Among the many choices, consider:
~Paint the background to the foreground
~Mix the colors primarily on the palette or on the canvas
~Begin with the middle tones and gradually increase the contrast
~For painting wet-into-wet, use mostly artists' grade oil colors with a small of amount Painting Medium to increase the fluidity of the paints.
~Alla prima is a method of direct painting in a single paint layer usually on a white ground.
~Plein Air describes a direct technique of painting a landscape entirely out of doors.
~Most painters use a combination of direct and indirect painting. For example, a landscape painting may look better when a glaze is applied to certain areas, such as the sky.
Other techniques:
~Impasto is the use of thick layers of paint to create texture. Often painters use Galkyd Gel (transparent medium) or Cold Wax Medium (translucent medium) to body oil colors. When painting on linen or canvas, we recommend using 1⁄2 Gel and 1⁄2 Cold Wax Medium. Using only Galkyd Gel, painters can create impasto of 1⁄4 inch per layer. Using only Cold Wax Medium in a mixture of more than 30% wax (70% oil colors) may cause paintings to crack when moved.
~Imprimatura is the application of a wash or glaze of color that tones the canvas before beginning a painting. Sfregazzi - (Italian: "light rubbing") shadows applied as a glaze over light areas.
~Sfumato - (Italian: "softened") making transitions from light to dark very gradual.
Consider also:
Different approaches to the canvas
Dialogue with your painting (call and response)
Editing as you go (seeing what you have and lack)
Following the physical
Following a concept
Following the act of painting itself
Painting as thinking
Mapping, diagrammatic painting
Painting with self-imposed restrictions (e.g., rags instead of brushes, or only big brushes, or no paint, etc.) Building a painting whole
Brief Bibliography: contains the titles and authors of books useful to this course. Additional titles on painting are Included as reference for wider reading. Many of these are available in used condition through Amazon.com.
A few are in the GMU library or available by Interloan.
The Painting Guide by Debra Clem (online)*** http://homepages.ius.edu/dclem/ptgguide/ptggd.htm
The Artistʼs Handbook of Materials and Techniques, by Ralph Mayer The Painterʼs Guide to Studio Methods and Materials by Reed Kay
Oil Painting Tips – You Tube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BcWr2r27EZ8
The Oil Painting Book: Materials and Techniques for Today's Artist (Watson-Guptill Materials and Techniques) Paperback by Bill Creevy
Color by Paul Zelanski and Mary Pat Fisher
Interaction of Color by Josef Albers
Color; A Natural History of the Palette by Victoria Finley
Plein Air Painting in Oil (Artist's Library Series) by Frank Serrano
The Art of Drawing by Bernard Chaet (Contributing Editor Harold Linton)
Sketching the Concept by Harold Linton/Scott Sutton
Drawing: a Contemporary Approach by Betti / Sale*
Reading Drawings by Susan Lambert
Drawing Lessons of the Great Masters by Hale
Drawing the Human Form by W. Berry
***Excellent introductory reference that can help kickstart your understanding of oil painting.
Text: There is no assigned text in the course. Readings however from online sources and/or hard-copy handouts are made available by the instructor. Pop quizzes on vocabulary and terminology are included in the course. Critique sheets are also used in context with review and discussion of course projects and/or examples supplied by the instructor.
No comments:
Post a Comment