CHAPTER 5

PAINTINGS
(Week 5)

MY JOURNEY

Starry Night by Van Gogh

Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci

Painting is an important form in the visual arts, bringing in elements such as drawing,
composition, gesture, narration, and abstraction. Paintings can be naturalistic and
representational, photographic, abstract, narrative, symbolic, emotive, and/or political in nature.
In this chapter, you will be exposed to the fundamentals of painting: elements, the color
wheel, the symbolism and meaning of colors, the mediums in painting and its characteristics.

MY EXPECTATIONS

At the end of this chapter, the students should be able to:

1. identify the elements of Painting;

2. show the importance of the color wheel;
3. convey an idea about the symbolism and meaning of the colors; and
4. demonstrate knowledge about the mediums in Painting and its characteristics.
MY INITIAL TASKS

Directions: Analyse the painting below and answer the following questions:

What does the painting say to you personally?

What connection do you see between the subject matter and the technique used?
What is your subjective reaction to this work of art?
What do you think is the cultural meaning and context of the work of art?

MY READINGS

Elements of Painting

P
ainting is a style of creating an expression by applying colors to a flat surface or any
mediums like canvas, clay, glass, paper, walls, leaf, paper, or woods. Abstraction or
composition, drawing, and other aesthetics may serve to manifest the expressive and
conceptual intention of the artists (Mayer, 1970). It is an
unspoken and mostly unrecognized dialogue, where paint speaks silently in masses and colors,
and the artist responds in moods. Paint records the most delicate gesture. It tells whether the
painter sat or stood or crouched in front of the canvas (Elkins, 1998). It loaded with narrative
content, symbolism, or emotion.
A beautiful painting is not made by photographic likeness, but rather by good composition.
For the artist, the harmony in his/her artwork will depend on the selection of appropriate devices,
peculiar to the medium and the use of certain principles to relate them. A unique style emerges
when an artist recognizes his or her personal preference of dominant design elements and
consciously or unconsciously emphasizes these dominant elements (Ocvirk et al., 2008; Gatto,
2000). The significant aspects of the painting are the line, color, texture, perspective, shapes,
and symbols (Nohay, 2018).
 Line. It is the simplest element in the painting. It has a continuous marking made by a
moving point to outlines shape and can contour areas within those outlines. It can suggest
movement (vertical, horizontal, diagonal, and curved). Each line has its meaning: vertical line
stress action, strength, dynamism; horizontal lines means serenity, calmness, stability; diagonal
line express tension, movement; curved lines appear softness, flexibility, gentleness.

Color. The Artists used colors to convey feelings and moods within their painting. It is the
result of wavelengths of lights reflecting of objects. It is composed of three distinct qualities such
as the hue, saturation, and value. Hue is merely the name of the color. Red, yellow, and the
blue are the primary color. Their mixture that produces the secondary colors are green, orange,
and purple.

Texture. It is a component of two-sided and three-sided designs and distinguished by its

perceived visual and physical properties. It is used to describe the way a three- dimensional work
feels when touched. In two-dimensional models, such as painting, it may refer to the visual "feel"
of a piece (Isaac, 2017).

Perspective. It is an art technique for creating an illusion of three-dimension with depth

and space. Its real goal is creating a viewpoint for the audiences that will best communicate the
subject and serve its particular message.

Perspective is the same as “viewpoint” and “position.” It is what makes a painting seem to
have form, distance, and look "real" (Evans, 2002). It is projected according to its levels namely:
foreground, middle ground, and background.

The foreground is the visual plane that appears closer to

the viewers. On the other hand, the middle ground is the
part between the foreground and the part of which is
which is called the background. The foreground of a
composition is the illustrative plane that appears closest to
the viewer, while the background is the plane in a
composition perceived farthest from the viewers. The
middle ground is the illustrative plane between the
foreground and the background. The scale of these
elements often
associates to the dominance in a picture. The foreground is frequently the most dominant due to
the larger perceived size of the picture objects.

Shapes. It is an element in painting that helps express ideas. It helps to interact, and
independently evoke agitation, purposeful energy, direction, etc.They maybe circles, rectangles,
ovals, or square. It is an area with defined boundary created by a variety of color, value or
texture of the areas adjacent to it.

Symbols. The Artists often include symbolic objects in their paintings that have a special
meaning or a special message. It is used to express ideas such as death, hope, life, etc.

The Color Wheel and its Categories

Colors play a fundamental

role in our lives and how we
respond to our environment. It is
the visual perceptual property
corresponding in humans to the
categories called blue, green, red,
and others. It has two main types,
warm and cool colors.

Significantly, a color wheel

(also known as a color circle) is a
visual representation of color
arranged based to their chromatic
relationship. It is a circle shape
that is divided evenly into 12
segments which display different
color according to its pigment
value. It also shows the
relationship between the primary
colors, secondary colors, and
complementary
colors.Other colors can also be categorized based on the following:

Complementary Colors. These colors sit contrary to each other on the color wheel.
Because they are opposites, they tend to look lively when used together. When you put
complementary colors together, each color seems more noticeable. Examples of these colors are
red and green.

Analogous Colors. These colors sit next to each other on the color wheel. They tend to
look pleasant together because they are closely related. Orange, yellow-orange, and yellow are
an example of analogous colors.
 Neutral Colors. They are sometimes called “earth tones.” These colors don’t usually show
up on the color wheel. Neutral colors include black, white, gray, and occasionally brown and
beige.

Warm Colors. These colors are made with orange, red, yellow or some combination of
these. Colors of the sunset give a feeling of brightness and heat.

Cool Colors. These colors are made with blue, green, purple or some combination of
these. These colors make you think of cool and peaceful things, like winter skies and still ponds.

Symbolism and Meaning of Primary Colors

Colors can affect our actions and emotions and on how we respond to various people, things,
and ideas. Much has been studied and written about color and its impact on our daily lives.

Red Color. This is noted as the warmest of all types of colors. It is most chosen by
extroverts and one of the top choices among males. It is a color which is associated with fiery
heat and warmth and has strong symbolism about life and vitality. It is also essential to human
life because:

a. It increases enthusiasm and interest.

b. It gives more energy.
c. It reinforces action and confidence.
d. It protects us from fears and anxieties.

Blue Color. This is known as the calmest color like that of the sky and ocean. It is the
color of inspiration, sincerity, and spirituality and often the chosen color by conservative people.
This color is important to human life because:

a. It is a sign of calmness and relaxation.

b. It opens the flow of communication.
c. It broadens our perspective in learning new information.
d. It implies solitude and peace.

Yellow Color. This is considered as the easiest color to recognize. It is symbol creativity and
intellectual vitality. It also symbolizes wisdom, happiness and brings awareness and clarity.

The yellow color is vital to human life because:

a. It helps us in making decisions.
b. It relieves us from burnout, panic, nervousness, exhaustion.
c. It sharpens our memory and concentration skills.
d. It protects us from depression.
Mediums in Painting

There are different mediums in paintings used today. It helps to describe the elements that
bind the colors in the paint (Martin, 2004). The following are examples of the methods used in
painting:

1. Oil- It is the type of slow-drying paint that consists of particles of pigment suspended in
drying oils such as linseed oil, poppy seed oil, safflower oil and walnut oil.
2. Pastel- It is an art medium in the shape of a stick or crayons. It consists of pure
powdered color and a binder. Dry pastel can be classified as soft pastels, pan pastels,
hard pastels, and pastel pencils.
3. Acrylic- It is fast drying paint containing pigment suspension in acrylic polymer
emulsion which becomes water-resistant when dry.
4. Watercolor- It is the medium which the paints are made of colors suspended in a water-
soluble vehicle. It is usually transparent and appears luminous because the pigments are
laid down in a relatively pure form with few types of filler obscuring the pigment colors.
5. Ink- It is a liquid that contains colors and dyes and is applied to a surface to produce an
image, text, or design. It is for drawing with a brush, or pen.
6. Encaustic- It is heated beeswax to which colored stains are added. The paste is then
applied to a wood-based canvas.
7. Fresco- It refers to any of several related mural painting types, executed on walls,
ceilings or any other kind of flat surface. The term fresco comes from the Italian word
“affresco” which means “fresh.”
8. Gouache- It is a water-based paint consisting of pigment and other materials designed
to be used in an opaque painting technique.
9. Enamel- It is a paint that air dries to a durable, usually glossy and solid finish. It is used
for outdoor coating surfaces or otherwise subject to variations in temperature.
10. Spray paint- It is the type of paint that comes in a sealed pressurized battle and
released in a fine spray.
11. Tempera- It is a permanent, fast-drying painting medium consisting of colored
pigment mixed with a water-soluble binder method.

Classifications of Painting Styles

Part of the desire in painting particularly in the 21st century is the variety of available art
styles. The style in painting is in two senses: it can refer to the distinctive visual elements,
techniques, and methods that characterized one’s artwork, and can refer to the movement or
school that associated to the artists. Such classifications include the following styles:

a. Western Styles

Abstraction. It is an art in painting which does not attempt to represent an accurate

depiction of a visual reality but instead use colors, shapes, forms and gestural marks to
achieve its effect. It may be formed by reducing the observable phenomenon, typically to retain
only information which is relevant for a particular purpose.

Expressionism. It is sometimes called emotional realism. In this style, the artists sought
to express meaning or emotional experience rather than physical truth.

Baroque. It is characterized by dynamism (a sense of motion), which is augmented by

extravagant effects (e.g., sharp curves, rich decoration). Among the most significant Baroque
painters are Caravaggio, Rembrandt, Rubens, Velazquez, Poussin, and Vermeer.

Impressionism. It is a type of art presenting the real-life subject with emphasis on the
impression left in the artist’s perception, particularly the effect of light on the object used as a
subject.

Modernism. It is characterized by a cautious rejection of the styles of the past and

emphasizing innovation and experimentation of materials and techniques instead to create better
artworks.

b. Modern Styles

Realism. It is a style of painting practiced before the invention of the camera, where
artists depicted landscapes and humans with as much attention to detail and precision as possible.
The artist’s primary goal is to describe accurately and truthfully as possible what is observed.

Symbolism. It is an art that represents the subject symbolically. For instance, the
“Spolarium” painting of Juan Luna depicts the suffering of the Filipino people from the hands of
the Spaniards. Many works of art included by some writers who cover the Symbolist era were
produced in the middle of the century, or even before.

Fauvism. It refers to art that used brilliant primary colors or color illumination on subjects
like pictures to emphasize comfort, joy, and leisure. It comes from the French word fauves,
meaning “wild beasts” (this name refers to a small group of painters in Paris who exhibited
works notable for the bold and expressive use of pure color).

Cubism. It is a form of abstraction wherein the object is first reduced to cubes and then
flattened into two-dimensional shapes. It has been considered the most influential and powerful
art movement during the 20th century in Paris established by Georges Braque and Pablo Picasso.

Surrealism. It is a type of art wherein the artist creates dreamlike paintings that filled with
mysterious objects. It is the opposite of abstraction that attempts to portray the conscious mind
through unconventional means.