March 22, 2009

The Art and Style of Painting

The art of painting refers not only to the finished product but the act of creating said product as well. Both the physical painting and the actual way or act in producing the painting makes up the word "painting" in the artistic sense.

Basically, painting is the application of paint, color or pigment to a surface. To produce a painting, a painter or more aptly called, an artist, may make use of various forms of surfaces for their support. These surfaces may be a canvas, a paper, wood, glass, clay, walls, lacquer, concrete and many others.

Nowadays, modern artists make use of other materials including clay, scraps of paper or sand in creating a painting. However, the most basic of all materials needed in painting is the paint itself.

A lot of artists paint to express themselves. Painting is said to be one of the most common modes of expression. This expression could be through abstraction, drawing, or other aesthetics. These techniques are used by artists to manifest their conceptual and expressive intentions.

Paintings though are more on the naturalistic side and are representational in approach. Examples of these representational paintings are landscape and still life paintings. Paintings can also be loaded with narrative content, political in nature, emotional, abstract or photographic.

Both Western and Eastern art were influenced greatly by spiritual ideas and themes. Many of these paintings depicted mythological characters and figures on pottery and a lot of Biblical scenes and motifs painted on walls and ceilings like that of the Sistine Chapel and other famous murals by Da Vinci. Such other scenes can be found depicting the life of Buddha and other Eastern religious origins as well.

The Grotte Chauvet in France is said to be the oldest known painting. It is said by historians to be 32,000 years old. It is not only painted but also engraved using red ochre and black pigment. This painting showed various animals such as horses, lions, rhinoceros, mammoth, buffalo and humans hunting. The earliest evidence of painting however, was discovered in two rock shelters in Arnhem Land in Australia. These findings are said to be 60,000 years old.

Oil painting and water color painting are the two best known mediums in the Western cultures. Ink and color ink, on the other hand, is the dominant medium in the East.

"Style," as used in painting, is used in two senses. It refers to the distinct visual elements, methods and techniques typifying an artist's work, as well as to the movement or school that an artist is associated with. The latter could either be a group or a category.

Basically, there are two styles of painting, the Western and the Eastern types. A few examples of the Western style of painting are abstract, graffiti, art Deco, Baroque, Minimalism, Pop Art, Abstract Expressionism, Cubism, Orientalism, Romanticism, Rococo, Orphism, Photorealism and Hard-edge to name a few. Examples of the Eastern Style of painting are the ink and wash painting, Ottoman Miniature, Persian Miniature, Contemporary, Mysore and many more.

Article Source: http://www.articlesnatch.com

About the Author:
Sebastian Marders loves writing about a variety of things and sharing the website that inspires each piece with his readers. If you are interested in browsing a selection of painting art supplies online, including Maries acrylic paint sets, and oil artist paint sets then please visit.

By: Sebastian Marders

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