2. Mediums and
Painting
Elements of
Painting
The Color Wheel
and it's Categories
Symbolism and Meaning
of Primary Colors
www.paintings.com
Classifications of
Painting Styles
Paintings
Paintings
3. Painting
Painting
Painting is a style of creating an expression by
applying colors to a flat surface or any mediums
like canvas, clay, glass, paper, walls, leaf, paper,
or wood. Abstraction or composition, drawing,
and other aesthetics may serve to manifest the
expressive and conceptual intention of the
artists (Mayer, 1970). It is an unspoken and
mostly unrecognized dialogue, where paint
speaks silently in masses and colors, and the
artist responds in moods. Paint records the most
delicate gesture. It tells whether the painter sat
or stood or crouched in front of the canvas
(Elkins, 1998). It is loaded with narrative content,
symbolism, or emotion.
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5. 1.Line
1.Line
It is the simplest element in painting. It has a
continuous marking made by a moving point
to outline shape and can contour areas
within those outlines. It can suggest
movement (vertical, horizontal, diagonal, and
curved).
www.elementsofpainting.com
6. 2.Color
2.Color
Artists use colors to convey feelings and
moods within their painting. It is the result of
wavelengths of lights reflecting off objects.
It is composed of three distinct qualities,
such as hue, saturation, and value. Red,
yellow, and the blue are primary colors. Their
mixture produces secondary colors, which
are green, orange, and violet
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7. 3.Texture
3.Texture
It is a component of two-sided and three-
sided designs and distinguished by its
perceived visual and physical properties. It is
used to describe the way a three-
dimensional work feels when touched. In
two-dimensional models, such as painting, it
may refer to the visual "feel" of a piece
(Isaac, 2017).
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8. 4.Perspective
4.Perspective
It is an art technique for creating an illusion
of three-dimension with depth and space. Its
real goal is creating a viewpoint for
audiences that will best communicate the
subject and serve its particular message.
Perspective is the same as “viewpoint” and
“position.” It is what makes a painting seem
to have form, distance, and look "real"
(Evans, 2002). It is projected according to its
levels namely: foreground, middle ground,
and background.
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10. 5.Shape
5.Shape
It is an element in painting that helps
express ideas. It helps to interact, and
independently evoke agitation, purposeful
energy, direction, etc. They may be circles,
rectangles, ovals, or squares. It is an area
with a defined boundary created by a variety
of color, value or texture of the areas
adjacent to it.
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11. 6.Symbols
6.Symbols
Artists often include symbolic objects in their
paintings that have a special meaning or a
special message. It is used to express ideas
such as death, hope, life, etc.
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13. COLOR WHEEL
Colors play a fundamental role in our lives and
how we respond to our environment. It is the visual
perceptual property corresponding in humans to
the categories called blue, green, red, and others.
It has two main types, warm and cool colors.
Significantly, a color wheel (also known as a color
circle) is a visual representation of color arranged
based on their chromatic relationship. It is a circle
that is divided evenly into 12 segments which
display different colors according to its pigment
value. It also shows the relationship between
primary colors, secondary colors, and
complementary colors. Other colors can also be
categorized based on the following
14. COMPLEMENTARY
COLORS
These colors sit contrary to each other
on the color wheel. Because they are
opposites, they tend to look lively when
used together. When you put
complementary colors together, each
color seems more noticeable. Examples
of these colors are red and green.
15. ANALOGOUS
COLORS
These colors sit next to each other on
the color wheel. They tend to look
pleasant together because they are
closely related. Orange, yellow-orange,
and yellow are an example of
analogous colors.
16. NEUTRAL COLORS
They are sometimes called “earth tones.”
These colors don’t show up on the color
wheel. Neutral colors include black,
white, gray, and occasionally, brown and
beige.
17. WARM COLORS
These colors are made with
orange, red, yellow or some
combination of these. The colors
of the sunset give a feeling of
brightness and heat.
18. COOL COLORS
These colors are made with blue, green,
purple or some combination of these. These
colors make you think of cool and peaceful
things, like winter skies and still ponds
20. Symbolism and
Meaning of
Primary Colors
Colors can affect our actions and emotions and
how we respond to various people, things, and
ideas. Much has been studied and written about
color and its impact on our daily lives.
21. Red
This is noted as the warmest of all types of
colors. It is chosen by most extroverts and one
of the top choices among males. It is a color
which is associated with fiery heat and warmth,
and has a strong symbolism about life and
vitality. It is also essential to human life
because:
a. It increases enthusiasm and interest.
b. It gives more energy.
c. It reinforces action and confidence.
d. It protects us from fears and anxieties.
22. Blue
This is known as the calmest color, like that of
the sky and ocean. It is the color of inspiration,
sincerity, and spirituality, and often the color
preferred by conservative people. This color is
important to human life because:
a. It is a sign of calmness and relaxation.
b. It opens the flow of communication.
c. It broadens our perspective in learning new
information.
d. It implies solitude and peace.
23. Yellow
This is considered as the easiest color to
recognize. It symbolizes creativity and
intellectual vitality. It also symbolizes wisdom
and happiness, and brings awareness and
clarity. The yellow color is vital to human life
because:
a. It helps us in making decisions.
b. It relieves us from burnout, panic,
nervousness, exhaustion.
c. It sharpens our memory and concentration
skills.
d. It protects us from depression.
25. There are different mediums in paintings used today. It helps to describe the
elements that bind the colors in the paint (Martin, 2004). The following are
examples of the methods used in painting:
Paint Mediums
Painting
in
Mediums
26. It is a slow-drying paint that consists of particles
of pigment suspended in drying oils such as
linseed oil, poppy seed oil, safflower oil and
walnut oil.
Oil
27. Pastel
It is an art medium in the shape of a stick or
crayon. It consists of pure powdered color
and a binder. Dry pastel can be classified as
soft pastels, pan pastels, hard pastels, and
pastel pencils.
28. Acrylic
It is fast drying paint containing pigment
suspension in acrylic polymer emulsion which
becomes water-resistant when dry.
29. It is a medium in which paints are made of
colors suspended in a water-soluble vehicle. It
is usually transparent and appears luminous
because the pigments are laid down in a
relatively pure form with few types of filler
obscuring the pigment colors.
Watercolor
30. Ink
It is a liquid that contains colors and dyes. It
can be used for drawing using a brush or pen
31. It is a heated beeswax to which colored stains
are added. The paste is then applied to a
wood-based canvas.
Encaustic
32. Fresco
It refers to any of several related mural painting
types, executed on walls, ceilings or any other
kind of flat surface. The term fresco comes from
the Italian word “affresco” which means “fresh.”
33. Gouache
It is a water-based paint consisting of pigment
and other materials designed to be used in an
opaque painting technique.
34. It is a paint that air dries to a durable, usually
glossy and solid finish. It is used for outdoor
coating surfaces or otherwise subject to
variations in temperature.
Enamel
35. Spray Paint
It is a type of paint that comes in a sealed
pressurized bottle and released as a fine spray.
36. It is a permanent, fast-drying painting medium
consisting of colored pigment mixed with a
water-soluble binder method.
Tempera
38. STYLES
Painting
Part of the desire in painting, particularly in the 21st century, is the variety of available
art styles. The style in painting is in two senses: it can refer to the distinctive visual
elements, techniques, and methods that characterized one’s artwork, and can refer to
the movement or school that is associated with the artists. Such classifications include
the following styles:
Expressionism
Abstraction
Modernism Impressionism
Baroque
A. WESTERN STYLES
40. Abstraction
It is a movement in painting which does not
attempt to represent an accurate depiction of a
visual reality, but instead, use colors, shapes,
forms, and gestural marks to achieve its effect. It
may be formed by reducing the observable
phenomenon, typically to retain only information
which is relevant for a particular purpose.
A, WESTERN STYLES
"Composition VII"
By Wassily Kandinsky
41. It is sometimes called emotional realism. In this
style, the artists sought to express meaning or
emotional experience rather than physical truth.
Expressionism
A. WESTERN STYLES
"The Starry Night"
By Vincent Van Gogh
42. Baroque
It is characterized by dynamism (a sense of
motion), which is augmented by extravagant
effects (e.g., sharp curves, rich decoration).
Among the most significant Baroque painters
are Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio,
Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn, Peter Paul
Rubens, Diego Velazquez, Nicolas Poussin, and
Johannes Vermeer.
A, WESTERN STYLES
"Girl with a Pearl Earring"
By Johannes Vermeer
43. It is a type of art presenting a real-life
subject with emphasis on the impression
left in the artist’s perception, particularly
the effect of light on the object used as a
subject
Impressionism
A. WESTERN STYLES
"Impression, Sunrise"
By Claude Monet
44. It is characterized by a cautious rejection of
the styles of the past and emphasizing
innovation and experimentation of materials
and techniques instead to create better
artworks.
Modernism
A. WESTERN STYLES
"American Gothic"
By Grant Wood
45. It is a style of painting practiced before the
invention of the camera, where artists depicted
landscapes and humans with as much
attention to detail and precision as possible.
The artist’s primary goal is to describe
accurately and truthfully as possible what is
observed.
Realism
B. MODERN STYLES
“The Gleaners”
By Jean-François Millet
46. It is an art style that represents the subject
symbolically. For instance, the “Spoliarium”
painting of Juan Luna depicts the suffering of
the Filipino people from the hands of the
Spaniards.
Symbolism
B. MODERN STYLES
"Spoliarium"
By Juan Luna
47. Fauvism
It refers to art that uses brilliant primary colors
or color illumination on subjects to emphasize
comfort, joy, and leisure. It comes from the
French word “fauves”, meaning “wild beasts”
(this name refers to a small group of painters
in Paris who exhibited works notable for the
bold and expressive use of pure color).
B. MODERN STYLES
"Le bonheur de vivre"
(The Joy of Life)
By Henri Matisse
48. Cubism
It is a form of abstraction wherein the object is
first reduced to cubes and then flattened into
two-dimensional shapes. It has been
considered the most influential and powerful
art movement during the 20th century in Paris
established by Georges Braque and Pablo
Picasso.
B. MODERN STYLES
"Girl with a Mandolin"
By Pablo Picasso
49. It is a type of art wherein the artist creates
dreamlike paintings that are filled with
mysterious objects. It is the opposite of
abstraction that attempts to portray the
conscious mind through unconventional
means.
Surrealism
B. MODERN STYLES
"The Persistence of Memory"
By Salvador Dalí
50. SUMMARY
As a Filipino student, you have to understand that in today’s world, everything is visual just think of how
much of your day is spent looking at a computer, tablet, television, or phone screen. We are
processing images, both moving and still, all day long. Everyone is shifting from verbal thinking to
visual thinking, and art history is one of the best ways to prepare for this, and succeed in this new
visual world.
True, we are all part of the human race, so any piece of art created by humans is technically our
history. But beyond that, understand art on your own by studying about its history. You’ll gain a deeper
understanding of your past and your present self if you can connect to art works of your people’s past.
Why do we study art history, particularly painting? Painting tells a story, and studying painting means
you get to uncover the past. Not only can painting be fun and rewarding, but you’ll improve your
critical thinking skills, and learn so much along the way.
