In his work, ‘ Flag‘ (1954-1955), Jasper used a combination of encaustic, oil, and collage on fabric mounted on plywood. The twentieth-century American artist, Jasper Johns used encaustic techniques in his compositions. Photo by Matthias Kabel, Gnu Free Documentation License He belongs to the greco-roman upper-class. Mummy-portrait, wax-tempera-made on wood. Some modern artists have used more flexible supports, however, with mixed results.

Typically, the support used for encaustic must be rigid, like the wooden panels of the Fayum portraits, to keep the wax from cracking. Because of the beeswax binder, when encaustic cools it forms a tough skin on the surface of the painting. The characteristics of encaustic painting include strong, resonant colors and extremely durable paintings. and was used extensively in funerary mummy portraits from Fayum in Egypt.

Encaustic dates back to at least the first century C.E. Reheating allows for longer manipulation of the paint. The mixture is then brushed or spread across a support surface. Let’s look at each of the six main painting mediums: EncausticĮncaustic paint mixes dry pigment with a heated beeswax binder. Solvents range from water to oil-based products like linseed oil and mineral spirits. Once the solvent has evaporated from the surface the remaining paint is fixed there. It’s mixed into the paint, usually with a brush, to dilute it to the proper viscosity, or thickness, before it’s applied to the surface. The solvent controls the flow and application of the paint. The binder holds the pigment in solution until it’s ready to be dispersed onto the surface. The binder, commonly referred to as the vehicle, is the actual film-forming component of paint. Pigments are granular solids incorporated into the paint to contribute color. There are six major painting mediums, each with specific individual characteristics: To prevent this a support is usually first covered with a ground, a mixture of binder and chalk that, when dry, creates a non-porous layer between the support and the painted surface. Because paint is usually applied in a liquid or semi-liquid state it has the ability to soak into porous support material, which can, over time, weaken and damage it. Painting mediums are extremely versatile because they can be applied to many different surfaces (called supports) including paper, wood, canvas, plaster, clay, lacquer, concrete and more. The power in great painting is that it transcends perceptions to reflect emotional, psychological, even spiritual levels of the human condition. These three art works are examples of how painting can go beyond a simple mimetic function – that is, to only imitate what is seen. Three of the most recognizable images in Western art history are paintings: Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa, Edvard Munch’s The Scream, and Vincent van Gogh’s The Starry Night. It’s used in some form by most cultures around the world.

Painting as a medium has survived for thousands of years and is, along with drawing and sculpture, one of the oldest creative mediums. Exceptions to this are found in Navajo sand painting and Tibetan mandala painting, where powdered pigments are used. Most painting is created with pigment in liquid form applied with a brush. In art, the term ‘painting’ describes both the act and the result. Painting is the application of pigments to a support surface that establishes an image, design or decoration. This chapter will introduce the materials and techniques of painting, both historical and still employed today. Sadly, the only examples of painting from the Greeks that survive are those on ceramics and in the wall frescoes of Pompeii and Herculaneum, but descriptions of the work of Zeuxis suggests it was well-developed and innovative, exhibiting many of the skills artists would only rediscover during the Renaissance. Parrhasius was the winner, and Zeuxis was said to have generously exclaimed, “I have deceived the birds, but Parrhasius has deceived Zeuxis.” This historical anecdote is probably not entirely true, but it seems that Zeuxis, at least, was a great Greek painter. When Zeuxis tried to pull the curtain aside it proved to be a painted illusion. Parrhasius concealed his painting behind a curtain, and asked Zeuxis if he would please unveil it. Zeuxis painted a still life of grapes that appeared so real birds flew down to peck at them. In his Naturalis Historia, Pliny the Elder tells of a painting contest between the great Greek painter Zeuxis and his rival Parrhasius to decide who was the greatest artist.

Painting done on wet plaster