Start painting: learn about different ways to bring your creations to life

Want to start painting but don't know what surface or type of paint to choose? Feeling overwhelmed by the sheer amount of materials available? This is the post for you.

Painting is one of the most popular visual arts that exists, widely valued by those with a special sensitivity, capable of valuing its language. As the philosopher Étienne Gilson said, art is creation and not a mere expression of knowledge.

Next, we will talk about the pictorial material and the most common artistic procedures.

Pictorial matter

When we talk about pictorial matter we refer both to the support that is used, and to the elements that are used to make the painting itself.

Supports

There are a wide variety of surfaces on which we can create our artwork: canvas, wood, wall, paper, fabric …

And anything else you can imagine. You can paint on rocks, metals, clay …

Once you've chosen the surface, it's important to know what type of paint you can use on it. In some cases, a first coat of another type of product will be necessary so that the paint can adhere properly.

Pictorial elements

The paint itself is made up of different components. Among these, we can distinguish three fundamental ones: the colorant , the binder , and the thinner.

Coloring

The colorant is the same as the pigment. It's what is used to dye, color, and paint —in other words, the base of the paint. It can be chemical or physical in nature . It commonly comes from different minerals. Some examples are clay derivatives for creating earth tones, iron oxides for reddish and ochre tones, charcoal for black, and so on.

Many of the pigments used historically were highly toxic, so it is crucial that paints are safe today. Currently, these pigments must meet technical standards to be marketed safely , standards developed by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and outlined in the International Color Index (ICI).

The binder and its diluent

The binder is a fundamental element for the formation of the paint. It is what the colorant must be mixed with so that it can be applied, since it is in charge of adhering the pigment to the surface. Said binder must contain a diluent.

There are different types of binders depending on their diluent:

• Aqueous binder: your diluent is water. Thus, the substances that form it can be: egg yolk, vegetable gums such as gum arabic, animal glue (which is obtained by boiling animal skins, bones, etc.) ... These are substances that can be diluted in water.
• Fatty binder: your diluent is of type fatty. For example we have linseed oil (widely used for oil), different waxes, etc.

It is important to know which is the paint binder that we use, as it must be inert to physical and chemical reactions so that it stays better over time (obviously this is an ideal, there is no perfect binder, but it will help us to when choosing).

Artistic procedures

Once the pictorial matter is known, we are going to know the artistic procedures that we can follow to create our work. The most common are:

• Oil. It uses oil as a diluent, being used mainly on wood or canvas. Possibility of creating multiple layers of paint.
• Tempera. Use egg yolk and vegetable glues or gums, the diluent being water. It is used on wall and board. It allows all kinds of retouching and rectifications.
• The water-color. Use a lot of water as a diluent and a small amount of binder, which is usually rubber. Its support is paper.
• The cake. It is a dry paint, so it does not use thinner. Paper, cardboard or cloth are its supports. The paintings usually have a diffuse character.
• Gouache. Water and a large quantity of rubber are used. It is more pasty and thicker than watercolor, but similar to it. It is usually used on fabric.
• Acrylic. Its binder is of synthetic origin, being glue or resin. High density and fast drying. It can be used on a multitude of surfaces.

And you, what are you waiting for to start painting?