This is a copy of the terms and definitions for Project #2

During the month of October

Overview Understanding Methods of Painting 

Acrylicis water proof. Once it dries, that’s all she wrote.  Acrylic, if it is to be blended, must be donefast, before it dries and it dries fast. On the other hand, onceit is dry, if you have made a mistake, just try again. The mistake is easilypainted out.  Unfortunately for amateurs,acrylic is very unforgiving when it comes to solid lines. Because the paintpaints right over itself, it makes it difficult when you slip. There’s nopretending you didn’t do it.  You canalways undo it, but this takes time, even for the smallest of mistakes.Usually because you make a mistake trying to fix the first mistake and thenmake a mistake trying to fix the second mistake and so on…With acrylic there isno more “whipping up” a masterpiece. It can take days.

Oil paint is very flexible so it can be applied in both thicktextured brushstrokes and thin fine detail. It dries very slowly, allowingartists to mix larger batches of paint and keep it for more than one paintingsession. Slow drying paint can be carefully blended to make soft, seamlessshadows necessary for the modeling that suggests three-dimensional form. Althoughit’s slowness to dry is a positive, it is also the negative.  When you start an oil painting using oils, itcan take a long time for that initial layer to dry (up to three weeks). The oilin oil paint makes pigments translucent (see through) allowing artists to applycolors in thin layers or glazes. All these properties make it especially goodfor communicating textures of different surfaces.  Oils offer a greater chance for correction,but the drying time is the biggest obstacle.  

Watercolor is the use of transparent water-based pigment on speciallyprepared watercolor paper. Watercolor painting utilizes layers of paint on thepaper. The painter has to think “light to dark”. Any areas of the painting thatare to be white or a very light color must be left unpainted throughout thepainting process. Areas that are to be very dark require multiple layers ofcolor (each layer is added after the previous layer is dry).  This takes time as you must often have toallow the first layer to dry before adding an additional one or else your papermay become over-wet, saturated, and drip. In application, the paint is either put on the paper with a very wetbrush, (which is called a wash) or with.  Don’t underestimate theimpact the paper you choose to use for a watercolor painting has on the finalresult.   It is important that you learnmore about the different types of watercolor paper and the color of watercolorpaper (it’s not simply “white”!).a drier brush. Thepaint is a more solid color with less water. Washes are most commonly used forsky, water and landscapes. Washes can be hard to control and require a solidpre-plan. A unique quality of watercolor painting is the look obtained whenvarious colors are layered on top of previous colors (after each layer hasdried). It creates a color that never could have been achieved, even by mixingcolors on the palette.

Tempera or“egg tempera” is a type of paint made by mixing powered pigments with eggyolks. Tempera pigments usually came from natural sources such as minerals,wood, plants or clay. Because tempera dried right away, artists had to apply itquickly with small brushstrokes. Rapid drying also made it difficult to changeor correct the painting later.  Temperais the oldest paint known. Today’s tempera paints are very different thantempera paints of the past. The “tempera” paints many of us use in school arenot made by grinding pigments and cracking eggs. Bottled “tempera” paints arepopular paints for elementary students and above because of their bright,washable colors.