Painting Media

Question 1

What makes a successful painter?

Answer 1

Years of practicing drawing, learning painting techniques and how to use different materials

Question 2

What is highly important to remember while painting?

Answer 2

Style

Technique

Question 3

What is technique?

Answer 3

This is the knowledge and the way an artist uses his/her equipment.

Question 4

How are techniques gained?

Answer 4

They can be learnt. Some techniques have been taught for many generations.

Question 5

What is style?

Answer 5

This is the artist’s special way of expression. It involves the personality of the artist. It is the way in which an artist chooses to practice and use a technique they may have been taught.

Question 6

What kinds of painting media are there?

Answer 6

Water colour paints
Gouache
Tempera
Fresco
Oil paints

Question 7

What are water paints?

Answer 7

They are water based paints

Question 8

Where did watercolour paints come from?

Answer 8

They were mostly used by early travellers who needed something light and inexpensive to record the things that they saw with.

Question 9

How are water paints applied?

Answer 9

With a soft brush that is usually pointed.

Question 10

Why are soft brushes normally used for water paints?

Answer 10

It is because water paintings are normally made on paper.

Question 11

How are watercolours lightened?

Answer 11

They are not lightened by adding white, instead water is used to lighten the paints.

Question 12

Are water colours translucent or opaque?

Answer 12

Translucent

Question 13

What does translucent means?

Answer 13

That water colours are see-through

Question 14

Why are water colours bad for paintings?

Answer 14

Mistakes cannot be fixed

Question 15

Why are a water colours good for painting?

Answer 15

They dry fast

Question 16

How are water colours normally found?

Answer 16

In hard blocks in a box

Question 17

What is gouache?

Answer 17

It is an opaque water colour paint.

Question 18

What does opaque mean?

Answer 18

It means they are not see-through

Question 19

What is the pigment in gouache mixed with?

Answer 19

Gum
Water
White pigment

Question 20

How is gouache tinted?

Answer 20

It is mixed with white paint

Question 21

How can gouache be found?

Answer 21

In tubes as a semi-liquid or in dried cakes

Question 22

What is tempera paint?

Answer 22

It is made when pigments are mixed with egg yolk, water and oil.

Question 23

Who used tempera paint?

Answer 23

Artists in Italy during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance.

Question 24

What surface is tempera applied to?

Answer 24

Wooden panels covered in gesso.

Question 25

What is gesso?

Answer 25

A white substance similar to plaster of Paris

Question 26

Why was egg yolk added to tempera?

Answer 26

To help the water to mix with the oil

Question 27

What happened to many paintings made with tempera?

Answer 27

They degraded because of a chemical reaction between the paint and the carbon dioxide in the air.

Question 28

Which famous artist painted with tempera?

Answer 28

Leonardo da Vinci

Question 29

What is fresco?

Answer 29

It is when an artist applies his paint to wet plaster

Question 30

Why was fresco so effective?

Answer 30

The paint is bound to the crystalline structure with the limestone instead of just adhering to the surface.

Question 31

What is good about fresco paintings?

Answer 31

They are permanent, because of the chemical properties.

Question 32

What is bad about fresco painting?

Answer 32

The artist needs to paint quickly and confidently, because as soon as the plaster is dry it will not work.

Question 33

What is fresco paint applied to?

Answer 33

To sections or panels of a structure. These panels will be made of plaster.

Question 34

What happens when sections of a fresco painting are done incorrectly?

Answer 34

They must be redone, because there is not enough time to make corrections.

Question 35

What is the first step in creating a fresco painting?

Answer 35

The artist smoothes the plaster onto the wall

Question 36

What is the second step in creating a fresco painting?

Answer 36

A pre-drawn design on a thin piece of paper is placed on the plaster. Holes have been pricked along the outline of the drawing. Charcoal dust is dusted over the template. The dust goes through the holes, making an outline on the plaster

Question 37

What is the third step when creating a fresco painting?

Answer 37

The artist removes the paper carefully to make sure the image has been transferred.

Question 38

What is the fourth and final step in creating a fresco painting?

Answer 38

The artist paints the outline before the plaster dries.

Question 39

What are oil paints?

Answer 39

They are paints comprised of pigments ground with oils, normally linseed oil.

Question 40

Which famous artist used fresco paintings?

Answer 40

Michelangelo

Question 41

Why are oil paints popular?

Answer 41

They maintain their vibrant colours for a long time. They also take a long time to dry, so they can be worked on and blended for a long time.

Question 42

Why do oil paintings preserve so well?

Answer 42

When oil oxidises, it creates a protective film over the painting, maintaining the vibrant colours of the artwork.

Question 43

When did oil paints become popular?

Answer 43

The 15th century

Question 44

How are oil paints sometimes used?

Answer 44

In conjunction with other mediums such as linseed oil or turpentine.

Question 45

What can oil paints be used for?

Answer 45

Thin, almost transparent layers or sculpted impasto. Oil pigments can be used to make a large variety of colours.

Question 46

What is painting?

Answer 46

It is a combination of ideas, techniques, skills, materials and imagination.