Homework #2 - James Schlavin

Painting techniques:
Impasto - Using thick paint in order to convey literal texture onto the painting. Brush strokes are visible, and paint can be mixed on the canvas as it is worked.

Chiaroscuro - High contrast of light and dark in a painting, when used it is applied to the whole composition, but it is usually employed to help show the form of a figure in a painting by creating a more pronounced three dimensionality in the human form.

Glaze and Scumble - Glazes use thinned oil paint to create layered translucent mixing of colors, rather than mixed opaque colors. Paintings can have any number of glazes layered on top of each other. These are then highlighted with scumbles which are thick and opaque (similar to impasto). Scumbles can then be glazed over again, or left on the top of the glaze.

Support:
Wood - Most common support until 16th century (Aside from fresco painting). Made from a single piece, or multiple pieces of wood joined together.

Linen Canvas - used at least as early as 1410, has since become one of the most popular supports for oil painting. Must be stretched on a wooden frame to create a smooth ground, and primed or it will decay.

Cotton Canvas - Similar to linen, less sturdy as a material, but is widely used as a cheaper alternative.

Ground:
Gesso (Traditional) composed of lead carbonate and linseed oil, applied to a surface that has been treated with rabbit skin glue. It is essentially a white paint mixture consisting of a binder mixed with chalk, gypsum, pigment, or any combination of these.

Gesso (Acryllic) -Modern alternative/version of gesso, uses acrylic medium and does not need to be applied over a glue base.

Tonal - a ground that has been primed (usually gesso) that either has pigment added to the gesso, or where a tone is applied evenly to the surface before painting is begun.

Tools:
Brush - Incredible variety of sizes and styles. Excellent for soft application of paint, glazing, and based on the brush, for certain textures.

Palette knife - Variety of styles, some designed specifically for painting. Excellent for impasto technique as it applies paint very thickly. Very good for thick, gestural texture, or for incridbly fine detail. Can also be used to scratch the surface of the paint to reveal the ground or older layers of paint in a way that you "draw" on the painting.

Rags - Good for applying thinned paint evenly (glazing) or for removing paint to "erase".