Painting - what is it? Painting techniques. Development of painting

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

The great figure, scientist and Renaissance artist Leonardo da Vinci said: "Painting is poetry that is seen, and poetry is painting that is heard." And one cannot but agree with him. Real art is truly perceived comprehensively. We see, and contemplate, and hear, and in our souls we keep the works of art we like. And world masterpieces remain in our memory for many years.

Genres and types of painting

Drawing a picture, the master performs it in a certain state, a special character. The work will not turn out to be full-fledged, worthy of love and attention, if only form and color are depicted on it. The artist is obliged to endow objects with a soul, people with charisma, a spark, perhaps a secret, nature with peculiar feelings, and events with real experiences. And genres and types of painting help the creator in this. They allow you to correctly convey the mood of an era, event, fact, better capture the main idea, image, landscape.

Among the main genres of fine art are:

• Historic- image of facts, moments in the history of different countries and eras.
• Battle - conveys battle scenes.
• Household - stories of everyday life.
• Landscape is a picture of wildlife. There are sea, mountain, fantastic, lyrical, rural, urban, space landscapes.
• Still life - illustrates inanimate objects: kitchen utensils, weapons, vegetables, fruits, plants, etc.
• A portrait is an image of a person, a group of people. Often, artists like to paint self-portraits or canvases depicting their beloved.
• Animalistic - pictures about animals.

Separately, one can single out another plot-thematic genre and include here works, the subject of which are myths, legends, epics, as well as paintings of everyday life.

Types of painting also mean separate forms of image. They help the artist to achieve perfection when creating a canvas, tell him in which direction to move and work. The options are:

- Panorama - an image of the area in a large-scale format, a general view.

- Diorama - an image of battles, spectacular events curved in a semicircle.

- Miniature - manuscripts, portraits.

- Monumental and decorative painting - painting on walls, panels, plafonds, etc.

- Icon painting - religious paintings.

- Scenery painting - creating artistic scenery in cinema and theater.

- Easel painting - in other words, paintings.

- Decorative painting of everyday life items.

As a rule, each master of fine arts chooses for himself one genre and type of painting that is closest to him in spirit, and mostly works only in it. For example, Ivan Konstantinovich Aivazovsky (Hovhannes Gayvazyan) worked in the style of a seascape. Such artists are also called marine painters (from "marina", which means "sea" in Latin).

Techniques

Painting is a certain manner of executing the plot, its feeling through the world of colors and strokes. And of course, such reproduction cannot be done without the use of certain techniques, patterns and rules. The very concept of "technique" in the visual arts can be defined as a set of techniques, norms and practical knowledge, with the help of which the author conveys the idea and plot of the picture most accurately, close to reality.

The choice of painting technique depends on what type of paint, type of materials, type of canvas will be taken to create a work. Sometimes an artist can take an individual approach to his work, take advantage of a mixture of different styles and trends. This author's approach allows you to create truly unique works of art - world masterpieces.

In technical terms, there are several options for painting. Let's consider them in more detail.

Painting of ancient times

The history of painting begins with petroglyphs of primitive man. At this time, the paintings do not differ in liveliness of plots, a riot of colors, but a peculiar emotion in themwas. And the plots of those years clearly inform us about the existence of life in the distant past. The lines are extremely simple, the themes are predictable, the directions are unambiguous.

In ancient times, the content of the drawings becomes more diverse, more often depict animals, different things, make whole biographies on the entire wall, especially if the pictures are created for the afterlife of the pharaohs, which was then very believed. After about another two thousand years, the wall paintings begin to take on colors.

Ancient painting, in particular, Old Russian, is well rendered and preserved in old icons. They are a shrine and the best example, conveying the beauty of art from God. Their color is unique, and the purpose is perfect. Such painting conveys the unreality of being, images and instills in a person the idea of a divine principle, of the existence of an ideal art that one must be equal to.

The development of painting did not pass without a trace. For a long time, mankind has managed to accumulate real relics and the spiritual heritage of many centuries.

Watercolor

Watercolor painting is distinguished by the brightness of colors, purity of color and transparency of application to paper. Yes, it is on a paper surface that it is best to work in this fine art technique. The pattern dries quickly, resulting in a lighter, more matte texture.

Watercolour does not achieve interesting tints when using dark, solid shades, but perfectly models color if layersoverlay one on top of the other. In this case, it turns out to find completely new, unusual options that are difficult to obtain with other artistic techniques.

Difficulties in working with watercolor

The difficulty of working in such a technique as watercolor painting is that it does not forgive mistakes, does not allow improvisation with cardinal changes. If you didn’t like the applied tone or you got a completely different color that you wanted, then it’s unlikely that you will be able to fix it. Any attempts (washing with water, scraping, mixing with other colors) can lead to both getting a more interesting shade, and completely soiling the picture.

Changing the location of a figure, an object, any improvement in the composition in this technique is essentially impossible to do. But thanks to the quick drying of the paints on paper, watercolor painting is ideal for sketching. And in terms of depicting plants, portraits, urban landscapes, it can compete with oil paintings.

Butter

Each of the technical varieties of painting has its own specifics. This applies to both the manner of performance and the artistic transmission of the image. Oil painting is one of the favorite techniques of many artists. It is difficult to work in it, because it requires a certain level of knowledge and experience: from preparing the necessary items, materials to the final stage - covering the resulting painting with a protective layer of varnish.

The whole process of oil painting is quite laborious. Regardless of,what kind of base did you choose: canvas, cardboard or hardboard (fibreboard), first it must be covered with soil. It will allow the paint to lie down and hold well, not to stand out from the oil. It will also give the background the desired texture and color. There are a lot of types and recipes for various soils. And each artist prefers his own, certain, to which he is accustomed and which he considers the best option.

As mentioned above, the work with oil paints takes place in several stages, and the final is the coating of the picture with varnish substances. This is done in order to protect the canvas from moisture, the appearance of cracks (mesh) and other mechanical damage. Oil painting does not tolerate work on paper, but thanks to the whole technology of applying paints, it allows you to keep artworks safe and sound for ages.

Chinese fine arts

I would like to pay special attention to the era of Chinese painting, since it has a special page in the history of fine arts. The Eastern direction of painting has developed over more than six thousand years. Its formation was closely connected with other crafts, social changes and conditions taking place in people's lives. For example, after the introduction of Buddhism in China, religious frescoes acquired great importance. During the Song Dynasty (960-1127), paintings of a historical nature became popular, including stories about everyday life. Landscape painting has established itself as an independent direction already in the 4th century AD. e. Images of nature were created in blue-green colors and Chinese ink. And in the ninth century, artists increasingly began to paint flowers, birds, fruits, insects, fish, embodying their ideals and the character of the era.

Features of Chinese painting

Traditional Chinese painting is distinguished by its particular style and the materials used for painting, which in turn influences the methods and forms of Oriental art. First, Chinese painters use a special brush to create paintings. It looks like watercolor and has a particularly sharp tip. Such a tool allows you to create sophisticated works, and, as you know, the style of calligraphy is still widely used in China. Secondly, ink is used everywhere as paints - Chinese ink (it happens that together with other colors, but it is also used as an independent paint). This has been happening for two thousand years. It is also worth noting that before the advent of paper, people in China painted on silk. Today, modern masters of art make their work both on a paper basis and on a silk surface.

This is not all the technical possibilities of painting. In addition to the above, there are many others (gouache, pastel, tempera, fresco, acrylic, wax, painting on glass, porcelain, etc.), including author's art options.

Era of painting

Like any kind of art, painting has its own history of formation. First of all, it is characterizeddifferent stages of development, multifaceted styles, interesting directions. Not the last role here is played by the era of painting. Each of them affects not just a piece of the life of the people and not only the time of some historical events, but a whole life! Among the most famous periods in the art of painting are: the Renaissance and Enlightenment, the work of impressionist artists, modern, surrealism and many, many others. In other words, painting is a visual illustration of a certain era, a picture of life, a worldview through the eyes of an artist.

The concept of "painting" literally means "to write life", to depict reality vividly, masterfully, convincingly. To convey on your canvas not only every detail, every little thing, moment, but also the mood, emotions, color of this or that time, the style and genre of the entire work of art.