Everyone loves to paint from the hand painting attempts of very young children, school age kids learning the basics of shape and colour, hobbyists or creative designers using the medium as a means of expressing themselves or even older generations looking for a relaxing yet fulfilling pastime in later life. Painting has something for everyone and has been a means of artistic expression for many thousands of years. This is a look at the materials that have been used for painting over the years.

When we refer to painting most people will initially think of the classic painting by the famous artists of recent times, names like Monet, Van Gogh, Klimt, Constable, Picasso even Lucian Freud spring to mind.

Certain artists are associated with certain styles of painting and with them specific types of materials. Freud for example is famous for his nude portraits and use of very thin paints. He is also known for his use of the impasto technique, when thicker paints are used, often being mixed on the painting itself rather than a palette.

Typically paints can be categorised into groups based on the materials used to create them. The main groups are oils, acrylics, inks, watercolours, egg tempera, and gouache. There are also pastels and other materials which could be classed as mediums for drawing, but are often made use of when painting. These alternatives include charcoal and pencils of various types.

Some of the more unusual painting materials are used in more esoteric techniques like encaustic painting where wax and a pigment are combined with heat to burn an impression onto the paper or canvas. A colour pigment, usually powdered paint is combined with beeswax and resin crystals called damar over a heat source until it becomes pliable and suitable for working into a painting design.

Some of the world’s oldest paintings are cave paintings found in places like France, Spain and Italy. Some of these paintings are thought to be up to 12,000 years old and given the painting materials that were used to create them, it is remarkable that they have survived in any form up until today. These materials were obviously some of the most rudimentary ever and include hematite and manganese dioxide or pyrolusite, which is a commonly occurring black mineral, which was later used by the Greeks to create clearer glass. Plants were used to create colours and the use of pine cones has been identified. Ancient cave painters also attempted to create their own paint by grinding up various materials including sea shells and even human bones.

Modern painting materials are commonly based on older combination of substances, which also allow painters to more easily create traditional styles. Both gouache and watercolours are pigments suspended in water, the main difference between the two being the size of the particles and the amount of water in the suspension. In order to stop the pigment separating gum Arabic is used, which is a tree sap from the acacia tree. Egg tempera paint uses egg yolks as the pigment binding medium.

Acrylic paints are a much more modern invention, having only been invented around 50 years ago. These paints also used a suspended pigment like gouache but rather than water the pigment is suspended in an acrylic polymer emulsion. The material lends itself to more flexible use as it can still be diluted with water but can also be mixed with other substances like gels, pastes or even solvents to achieve different effects.

Painting materials will continue to develop as long as scientific advances continue to be made. We are currently seeing some of the metallic paints developed for the car industry, transitioning into mainstream use and even the use of nano-coatings or “liquid solids” is already in commercial use.

Author Bio: Art Forbes-Lee is an established art supplies writer working for Pullingers and their online range of artist’s paints, art materials and more.

Category: Arts and Crafts
Keywords: art supplies, art materials, painting art materials, artists paints