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Art Mediums

There are many mediums Canadian Artists use today to express themselves, and to create their unique works of art. Three of the most commonly used mediums are oil paints, acrylics and watercolours.

Oil Paints

Jan van Eyck (c.1389-1441) has been credited with the invention of the oil paints. He was the greatest Flemish artist of the 15th century. Oil painting, his newly developed technique, would serve as a model for generations to come.

Oil paints, in contrast to older wax, and water-based media such as encaustic painting, fresco, tempera and watercolour, is actually easier to use and allows a greater variety of effects. The oil paint dries slowly, and the tones are easy to match, grade, and blend. Corrections are easy to make. Oil paint may be applied with many techniques. Linear brushstrokes, glazes, washes, blobs, or spray just to name a few.

Oil paint is pigment, or colored powders, ground in oil (usually linseed) which dries with exposure to the air. The oil paint is packaged in sqeezable tubes as a thick creamy paste.

Painting surfaces are can be many things. Wood, linen, cotton, jute canvas stretched on a frame or canvas that has been glued to a board. The surface is covered with a thin coating, using of gesso to make the surface less absorbent and to provide an even painting surface.

The painting itself is usually sketched on the prepared painting surface in pencil, charcoal, or paint diluted with turpentine. From there, large areas of color are filled in with a thin mixture of paint. These areas can gradually be built up with thicker layers of paint.

Acrylic Paints

Unlike the oil Paints, acrylic paints are known for their quick-drying and non- toxic properties. These two points have made acrylic paints the preferred medium among many artists. They are made from emulsions of pigments, water, and clear, non-yellowing resins. They are not known to change color, nor do they harden with time.

Acrylic paints also come in tube form, they look like oil paints, but they can be thinned with water. When this is done, they can be used like traditional watercolours.

Watercolours

Water-soluble pigments used in watercolour paints can be transparent or opaque. This medium has more longevity, and is more durable than oil paints.

Around 100 AD, the Chinese created watercolours as we know them today.

This medium was used in the 1700's by explorers to document their travels. It was a popular medium during the civil war for documenting battle scenes. During the 19th century, it was considered by many American artists to be just a sketching tool. However, the British artists had considered watercolours to be a serious medium by the mid-1700s. The American artists finally took watercolours seriously with Homer Winslow's artwork, and finally accepted it as a medium of its own.

Artists today love and appreciate watercolours for the versatility, the wide variety of techniques, beautiful transparency, vibrant colors, and fast-drying properties.

Watercolours can be found in tube form, or in cake form.

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