First used in the 1400s, oil paint remains a popular medium today. True to its name, oil paint uses linseed oil as its binder. Its solvent is turpentine.
smoothly the colors blend together.
The most popular of water-based painting media, watercolor, takes its name from its solvent, water. The binder is gum arabic. Watercolors give a transparent quality to paintings. Compare the watercolor in Figure 19–2with the oil painting in Figure 19–1. What differences do you see?
Tempera, another water-based paint, comes in both powder and liquid form. Because tempera is not oil-based, it dries more quickly than oil paint. It is also more opaque than water-color.
1.What are the three main ingredients of paint?
2.What is the main difference between oil paint and tempera?
Still life is the art of drawing or painting inanimate objects such as fruit, flowers and household items which are usually arranged on a table or shelf. Artists create still life paintings for various reasons: to reflect the status of their owner, be it humble or haughty; for their symbolic meaning which reveals a hidden story or idea; to capture the natural beauty of transient object like a flower or fruit; or as a controlled structure to express the abstract elements of the visual elements.
Still Life art has existed in one form or another since the time of the Ancient Romans and Greeks. Although there are examples of Ancient Roman still life, mostly in the form of interior decoration, that have been preserved when Mount Vesuvius erupted in A.D.79, there are no examples from Ancient Greece. There is, however, a story from around this time in the book 'Historia Naturalis' (the only surviving history of ancient art) by the Roman writer Pliny who lived from AD 23-29. It tells us about a competition that took place about 400BC between two Greek painters Zeuxis and Parrhasius. Zeuxis created a painting of grapes which were so convincing that the birds flew around and tried to peck at them. In art, this kind of realistic painting is called a 'trompe l'oeil' (a French artistic term which means 'trick of the eye'). Envious of his fellow artist's display of skill, Parrhasius painted a 'trompe l'oeil' image of a curtain which appeared to conceal a painting about the Trojan War beneath it. On seeing his friend's work, Zeuxis asked Parrhasius to pull back the curtain to reveal the rest of the painting. At that moment, Parrhasius claimed victory. Although Zeuxis had fooled the birds, Parrhasius had succeeded in fooling a fellow artist, an altogether more difficult task. Since the earliest times, Still Life has always been a subject that artists have used to show off their technical skills in painting.
However, as a subject in its own right, still life painting was considered to be a lower form of art. Some painters had achieved great skill in the realistic representation of objects, but it was not elevated to the status of a major art form until the work of Chardin emerged in the 18th century, followed by Cézanne in the 19th century and the Cubists in the 20th century.
1. What do you need to paint a still life?
2. What is easier to paint a still life or landscape?
1. Ordinary objects can become exciting … when an artist sees them.
2. You will demonstrate … effectively using a variety of art media and materials to produce a still life drawing.
4. Choose background colors that will set off the … in the foreground.