MEDIUMS OF THE VISUAL ARTS:
Paiinting, Components, Tools,
Substrates, and Processes
MEDIUM
The word medium, which comes
from the Latin word medium, denotes
the
means
by
which
artist
communicates his idea.
These are the materials which the
artist uses to translate his feelings or
thought into beautiful reality. Many
mediums have been and can be used in
creating works of art. This may be in
pigment in painting, stone, wood, brick,
concrete and various building materials
in architecture, steel, marble, bronze,
and wood in sculpture, sounds in music,
words in literature, wood or metal in
sculpture. Thus, medium is very
essential to art.
Painting tools
Paint can be applied with a
variety of tools: brushes, fingers,
painting knives, sticks, aluminum foil
and tissue.
Substrates and Surfaces
There are different types of
substrates used in painting. Substrates
in painting are grounds or base with
which painters can apply their paint on
such as wet plaster, canvas, wood,
metal, cemented wall, paper or
cardboard, glass, silk, and patterned
fabric, stone, clay or bricks and ceramic.
You may also paint 3-D sculptures or
objects.
MEDIUMS OF PAINTING
There are different types of paint
depending on the pigment used.
PAINTING
1. ENCAUSTIC
It is the art of creating meaningful
effects on a flat surface by the use of
pigments. There are various media that
manifest different effects on the art
work, is flexible to varied treatment and
dictate its own stroke.
Encaustic
is
a
Greek
word
“enkaustikos” meaning “to heat or burn
in”. Encausstic consists of natural bees
wax and dammar resin (crystallized tree
sap). It is 2500 years old, but is made
easy by modern low heat tools including
an iron and stylus. The medium can be
used alone for its transparency or
adhesive qualities or used pigmented.
The use of encaustic on panels rivaled
the use of tempera in what are the
earliest known portable easel paintings.
The best known of all encaustic work are
the Fayum funeral portraits painted in
the 1st through 3rd centuries A.D by
Greek painters in Egypt. A portrait of the
deceased painted either in the prime of
life or after death, was placed over the
person’s mummy as a memorial. These
are the only surviving encaustic works
from ancient times. It is notable how
Three components of paint
a. The pigment – natural or
synthetic-colored materials finely
ground into a powder such as
clay,
gemstones,
minerals,
plants, insects, and coal tars.
b. The binder – holds the pigment
together and adheres the paint to
a surface such as egg yolks,
linseed oil, wax
c. The solvent – added to thin or
thicken paint, slow or speed up
its drying time such as water or
oil
fresh the color has remained due to the
protection of the wax.
The process
Some encaustic artists use stencils,
wood blocks, or rubber stamps to make
patterns in their paintings. Others may
use a brush, or other tool, to apply
alcohol ink, powdered charcoal or
graphite, and oil paint to the different
layers of wax. Another technique unique
to encaustic is "intaglio". For this
technique an artist uses incising tools,
such as a needle tool, to cut or etch into
the wax to create distinctive lines or
patterns. Some artists rub oil paint or oil
stick into the incised areas to create a
linear effect within their painting. Metal
tools and special brushes can be used to
shape the paint before it cools, or heated
metal tools can be used to manipulate
the wax once it has cooled onto the
surface. Pigments may be added to the
medium, or purchased colored with
traditional artist pigments. The medium
is melted and applied with a brush or
any tool the artist wishes to create from.
Each layer is then reheated to fuse it to
the previous layer. It is applied to the
surface, one on top of the other, with
each layer being separately finced in
This technique results in depth and
luminous translucency that is unique to
encaustic art.
On the positive side, the wax gave a rich
optical effect to the pigment. These
characteristics made the finished work
startlingly life-like. Moreover, encaustic
had far greater durability than tempera,
which was vulnerable to moisture.
However, it is a slow, difficult technique
and more expensive than tempera.
2. OIL
Pigments mixed with oil provide a
medium that is rich in opacity of light
and depth of shadow.
The Process
There are two methods of painting
in oil: the direct and indirect. In the
direct method, the paints are opaque
and are applied to the surface just as
they are to look in the finished product.
On the other hand, the indirect method
entails applying of paint in thin layers of
transparent color. The former is more
flexible than the latter. Canvas is used
as a substrate for this type of painting
medium.
On a positive note, this method is
popular to painters because there are
limitless ways in handling the pigments,
thus, it is possible to get wide range of
separate effects. Pigment may also be
applied in thick and heavy opaque
manner or in washes of almost
watercolor transparency. Oil color is the
best
method
for
a
convincing
representation where exact reproduction
of a color tone is necessary.
Examples
RED TALISMAN. Art plate limited
edition by Jose Joya, a Filipino painter
YOUNG WOMAN SOWING RICE. Oil by
Fernando Cueto Amorsolo (Filipino,
1892-1972)
3. TEMPERA
The word tempera originally came
from the verb temper, "to bring to a
desired consistency". It is an ancient
medium, having been in constant use in
most of the world's cultures until it was
gradually superseded by oil paints in
Europe,
during
the
Renaissance.
Tempera was the original mural medium
in the ancient dynasties of Egypt,
Babylonia, Mycenaean Greece, and
China and was used to decorate the
early Christian catacombs, It was
employed on a variety of supports, from
the stone stelae (or commemorative
pillars), mummy cases, and papyrus
rolls of ancient Egypt to the wood panels
off Byzantine icons and altarpieces and
the
vellum
leaves
of
medieval
illuminated manuscripts.
The Process
Dry pigments are made usable by
"tempering" them with a binding,
albuminous or colloidal and adhesive
vehicle or either a gum, glue or egg, thus
otherwise called as egg tempera. It is
usually done on a wooden panel.
True tempera is made by mixture
with the yolk of fresh eggs, although
manuscript illuminators often used egg
white and some easel painters added the
whole egg. Other emulsions such as
casein glue with linseed oil, egg yolk with
gum and linseed oil, and egg white with
linseed or poppy oil have also been used.
Individual painters have experimented
with other recipes, but few of those have
proved successful; all but William
Blake's later tempera paintings on
copper sheets, for instance, have
darkened and decayed, and it is thought
that he mixed his pigment with
carpenter's glue.
EXAMPLES
HARVEST. Egg tempera by Anita
Magsaysay-Ho
4. WATERCOLOR
The medium of watercolor has
been particularly associated with
England for several hundred years.
However, its origins lie further back in
the history of European painting.
Pigments, consisting of earths or
vegetable fiber ground to powder and
bound with gum or egg, were in use in
the Middle Ages.
The process
The pigments are mixed with
water and applied to fine, white paper.
Colors are applied in thin layers. In pure
water color painting, all the light comes
from the substrate. Paper is the most
commonly used ground or substrate.
Other materials like parchment paper,
ivory, silk and cambric may also be
used.
Opaque
watercolor
is
called
"gouache". It is made by grinding opaque
colors with water and mixing the
product with a preparation of gum by
adding Chinese or zinc white to
transparent water colors. This is done to
tone down the colors giving the
appearance of sobriety which is essential
for dramatic purposes.
EXAMPLE:
PHILIPPINE FISHERMEN. Watercolor
by Jun Rocha
5. FRESCO
This is the most popular type of
painting. The Italian word fresco means
cool or fresh. A wall painting is
sometimes called a fresco by mistake.
The plaster has been laid on the wall
that day and it is still damp. It was used
as early as Minoan civilization (at
Knossos on Crete) and by the ancient
Romans (at Pompeii). It flourished
during the 15th. 16th century when
Masaccio,
Michelangelo,
Raphael,
Tintoretto and others covered the wall of
Italian
churches
with
their
masterpieces.
The process
It is actually a process of painting
in fresh wet plaster. The process begins
with
preliminary
sketches,
later
enlarged to full-sized cartoons which are
transferred to rough plaster. The
coloring must be ready as soon as the
plaster is put on the wall. It is prepared
by mixing the pigment with water or with
water and lime. When this is applied to
the wet plaster, the lime binds the
pigment to the plaster and makes the
painting part of the wall. Since this is an
exacting medium, there is no changing
was it is applied on the wall. Only earth
pigments are used because of the
chemical reaction of the plaster to the
paint. These colors have uniformity of
tone and no glaring contrasts.
Frescoes have two disadvantages.
The first one is that it's impossible to
move it. The second is that it is subject
to disasters that may happen to the wall
which it has become a part of.
EXAMPLES
CREATION OF ADAM. By
Michaelangelo, is one of the greatest
masterpieces in the world using fresco
as a medium
6. PASTEL
This medium is made of pigment
round with chalk and compounded with
gum and water. It possesses surfaces of
light with no glazed effect and most
closely resembles dry pigment. It is not
a very popular medium because no one
has discovered a way to preserve it.
The process
The pigment is bound so as to
form a crayon which is applied directly
to a surface, usually a paper, pasteboard
or canvas. The painter is free to handle
the material to suit himself. Varied
effects may be produced because of its
richness in color and luminosity.
On a positive note, this medium is
very flexible. However, it is difficult to
preserve because it tends to rub easily
and loses some of its brilliance. Some
artists try to preserve their work by
protecting the surface with glass.
EXAMPLE
ANG KUBO SA KABUKIRAN. Oil pastel
on felt paper by Fidel Sarmiento
7. ACRYLIC
This medium is used popularly
used by contemporary artists because of
its transparency and quick drying
characteristics of watercolor and the
flexibility of oil paint combined as one.
The process
This synthetic paint is mixed with
acrylic emulsion as the binder for
coating the surface of the artwork. It is
completely insoluble when dry and can
be used in any surface.
Painters prefer to use it because
it doesn't tend to crack and turn yellow
with age. A lot of Filipino painters have
produced many paintings using acrylic
as a medium.
EXAMPLES
AFTERNOON MERRIEMENT by Mario
Parial, a Filipino contemporary painter
MOTHER AND CHILD by Benedicto
“Bencab” Cabrera, a Filipino National
artist
8. MOSAIC
Mosaic art is an important feature
of the Byzantine churches. Mosaic is
usually classified as painting, although,
although the medium used is not strictly
pigment.
The process
It is a picture or decoration made
of small pieces of inlaid colored stones or
glass called "tesserae" which most often
are cut into squares glued on a surface
with plaster or cement.
9. STAINED GLASS
Stained glass as an artwork is
common on Gothic churches and
cathedrals. It is also a kind of
patchwork. Pictures in the stained glass
reflect the lives of saints. Thus, they also
serve as a means of religious instruction
among Christians. Beautiful stainedglass windows showing scenes from the
Bible are commonly found in the
Philippine churches.
It has always been considered a
very good training for artists because it
makes one concentrate in the use of line.
Some of the world's best drawings are by
the Italian artist - Leonardo da Vinci.
Example: One of Leonardo Da Vinci's
Sketches about human anatomy
The process
Drawing is usually done on paper
using pencil, pen and ink. It is the most
fundamental of all skills necessary in
arts. Shading can also be used to make
the drawing more life-like and realistic.
Drawing can be done in different
mediums.
a) Bistre. It is a brown pigment
extracted from the soot of wood and
often used in pen and wash drawings.
GREUZE by Jean-Baptiste
The process
It is made by combining many
small pieces of colored glass which are
held together by bands of lead. In large
windows, the lead is held by heavy iron
bars that make heavy black lines in the
picture.
10. TAPESTRY
During the Middle Ages, they
were hung on the walls of palaces and in
cathedrals on festive occasions to
provide warmth.
The process
This is fabric consisting of a warp
upon which colored threads are woven
by hand to produce a design, often
pictorials, wall hangings and furniture
coverings.
11. DRAWING
b) Crayons. These are pigments bound
by wax and compressed into painted
sticks used commonly among school
children. They adhere better on paper
surface.
PHILIPPINE EAGLE, crayon art by Marc
John F. Israel (blueprince312)
c) Charcoal. These are carbonaceous
materials obtained by heating wood or
other organic substances in absence of
oxygen. Charcoal is used representing
broad masses of light and shadow. Like
pencils, soft charcoal produces the
darkest value while the darkest
produces the lightest tone.
BLESSED FILIPINO FAMILY by E.R.
Tagle
d) Silverpoint. In this medium, the
artist has a technique of drawing with
silver stylus on specially prepared paper
to produce a thin grayish line that was
popular during the Renaissance period.
It is one of the several types of metal
point that is used by scribes, craftsmen
and artists since ancient times.
ARTS OUT EAST by Larry Abreno, a
Filipino painter. Larry is not only a
coffee painter/artist. He is also a
poet. His first book of poems
"Crumbs from the Heart" was
published in 2018.
The Process
A print is anything printed on
a surface that is a direct result from
a duplicating process. Ordinarily, the
painting or graphic image is done in
black ink on white paper and
becomes the artist's plate. Calendars
and Christmas cards are reproduced
through printing.
It is made by dragging a silver rod or
wire across a surface, often repaired
by gesso or primer. Metal point
styling were used for writing on soft
surfaces
(wax
or
bark),
underdrawings on parchment paper,
and drawing on prepared paper and
panel
supports.
For
drawing
purposes, the essential metals used
were lead, tin and silver. Goldsmiths
also used metalpoint to their prepare
detailed, meticulous designs.
DOG CAT done with aluminum stick
Con sanded paper by Monica Agee
Agstina modern Filipino artist
12. COFFEE
Coffee painting is a beautiful
art from a common household item.
Though this art is monochromatic
(involves working with only one
color), the potentials is limitless.
Coffee dust or seed of coffee plant are
used to create artistic images. The
first coffee paintings appeared
centuries ago as coffee began to
colonize Europe. Inspiration came
from the ancient times where
Chinese artists used tea in their art
to give their paintings a sepia look. In
the olden days, coffee and tea were
used to make marble statues appear
older.
13. PRINTMAKING
Today,
printmaking
is
categorized as painting because it
has long been acknowledged as
independent art.
Five Major Types of Prints
There are five major types of print
and each is distinguished by the
plate made.
1. Woodcut. This type of print as
implied is made from a piece of wood.
The Process
The design stands as the relief,
the remaining surface of the block
being cut away. A woodblock prints
just as the letters of the typewriter.
The lines of the design are wood;
thus, they are not fine. Woodcuts can
be identified because of their firm,
clear and black lines.
UNTITLED (Family) (2003) Manuel
Rodriguez, Sr
2. Engraving. This is an art of
forming designs by cutting, corrosion
by acids.
The Process
In engraving, the lines of the
design are cut into metal plate with
ink and transferred from the plate to
the paper. The lines of and engraving
are cut by hand with an instrument
called burin, a steel tool with an
oblique point and rounded handle for
carving stone and engraving metal.
Since the copper plate is hard to cut,
the resulting lines are fine, much
finer than the line of woodcut.
Etching is a development of
engraving. A copper or zinc plate is
covered with a "ground" a smooth
coating of wax mixed with pitch and
amber. The artist scratches the
picture into the ground and puts the
plate in the acid which eats the
picture into the plate. The ground is
scraped off and the plate is then used
to print the picture.
ILLUMINATING PHOTOGRAPHY