The Nitrogen Family Elements at a Glance

Author: Doug Amesbr
Source: isnare.combr
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Today, canvas is the most common medium for oil paintings. However, was this always so? In fact, it wasnt. Before the Renaissance period (approx. 1400-1700) all paintings were done on more solid mediums, such as wood. However, during the time of the Italian Renaissance, the merchant shipping industry was booming, and with that boom came many innovations and technologies borrowed from more eastern cultures. Among these technologies was the use of the canvas sail.

Canvas was originally made out of hemp. In fact the word canvas originally derived from the Arabic word for cannabis, a Latin term translating to hemp (this is also the name of the family of plants from which hemp is made). This strong material was made by tightly weaving the cannabis fibers together. The result was a strong fabric that could be used for sails and tents.

With the sudden success of the merchant industry, canvas became readily available to the public. Canvas was probably first used by portrait artists in Venice around 1500 AD. Canvas quickly took popularity over the more traditional and cumbersome wood planks. Because of its durability, canvas was able to withstand both the paint itself and the test of time. Not to mention canvas is more portable, less expensive, and easier to create the correct size. No longer was an artist inhibited by the size of the wood plank he could find, and much larger paintings resulted from this freedom.

During the late 18th and early 19th centuries American cotton had become more readily available and popular for the European artist. Yet artists still preferred the stronger linen or hemp for their oil paintings, despite the higher cost. At the time cotton fibers were weaker than either linen or hemp. Especially true when cotton was wet, it tended to be more prone to mildew. Only within the last hundred or so years has advancing technology finally brought cotton canvas to a position of superiority over linen and hemp.

Preparing Canvas for Oil Painting

Modern canvas is made from cotton, linen or synthetic material. In its natural, unprimed state, cotton canvas is an off-white color, and the finer linen canvas is a light brown. Both can be purchased in varying weights and qualities, are the least expensive to buy, but the most time-consuming to prepare. It is also possible to buy primed, non stretched canvas, as well as canvas panels, which are already primed, and ready to paint on when purchased. There are also non-stretched canvases available in arts and crafts stores, some office stores, and department stores.

In preparation for a painting, canvas is first stretched and secured over a wooden frame. When stretching your own canvas, four stretcher bars and 8 keys are needed to get a proper stretching. Stretcher bars come in ready made sizes from eight inches to forty eight inches. For canvas longer than 20 inches a mid bar is recommended and for canvas larger than thirty inches, the heavier duty stretcher bars with cross panels are recommended. The keys usually come with the stretcher bars and help to hold the canvas more securely in place at the corners. The artists hammer is used to join the bars and heavy duty staples are used to secure the canvas in place. Canvas pliers are used to grip tightly the canvas during the stretching process and a right angle is necessary to be sure that the final product is perfectly square. The process is a little more time-consuming, but in the long run will save the artist money in art supplies.

The surface of the canvas then receives a smooth coat of white calcium sulfate, plaster of paris, sealed with a glue, known as gesso. This is to seal the canvas and prevent the fibers from absorbing too much of the paint. This coating of gesso is generally followed by the pigment lead white, which secures upper pigments. Without this priming, the fibers of the canvas would soak up the paint and create a stained appearance. Some modern artists actually prefer this look and use unprimed canvas for painting.br
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Author: Murtaza Habibbr
Source: ezinearticles.combr
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Painting is one of the arts that is moving up at the rapid pace since ages coming with more evolutions and improvements.

The most common example of the evolution made in this painting world is oil painting.

This was a very advanced technique introduced as it involved blending pigments with oil before you apply them on a texture.

Watercolor painting could easily capture the shape or structure of the picture but the actual glow of the picture was lacking.

Oil paint added up to the liveliness of the image on a very wide scale that made it one of the must for the painters.

Oil paint provides a shine on the painting which makes the painting glow and give it many more natural looks.

What All Do It Includes?

Oil paints generally have linseed oil, but recently the usage of other oils have also been introduced.

Poppy seed oil is also being used a lot along with safflower and walnut oil.

It mainly depends upon the person as to which oil he is comfortable using.

There are painters that use different types of oils in same painting to give different effects as per his needs.

You need to use different types of oils and this purely depends upon the pigments that you need to blend. This should be decided before it is applied on the texture.

It is extremely important to study how different oils blend different pigments if you truly want to master the art of oil painting.

You just cannot pick up an oil paint and get started painting…

- Only after huge practice of color theory and blending different types of pigments one can literally master the art of oil painting.

Make sure that you master oil painting starting today as this can give you the perfect finishing look to your picture that you have always desired.

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pWhat if I teach you how to get started with drawing and painting with great ease following simple steps?/ppFollow these steps for your perfect creativity flow./ppGrab my free ebook on a TARGET=_new href=http://www.paintonmycanvas.com/ezine.html rel=nofollowDrawing And Painting/a/ppMurtaza Habib has helped hundreds of newbies to start their painting courses, now you can do it too… Keep visiting a TARGET=_new href=http://www.paintonmycanvas.com/ezine.html rel=nofollowPaint on my canvas/a for unique articles on drawing and painting./pbr
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Author: Murtaza Habibbr
Source: ezinearticles.combr
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Oil painting has its roots during the ancient Roman era, and in the following years, its reputation immediately disperse throughout the other regions.

Oil painting is the progression of painting with pigments using dry oils, most particularly linseed oil, poppy seed oil, safflower oil, and walnut oil.

Artists diverge and contrast in style, stroke, or color, they want to portray. Different kinds of oil likewise present different colors and characteristics. Some, in a single painting, use different oils to depict the character and mood of their expressions.

To begin, most artists make a sketch to draw round and chart in the theme of their paintings. From there, the pigment will be applied to the surface which likewise varies, depending on the artist.

It may range from a canvas, cardboard, pressed wood, paper, slate, or wooden panel. The artist may opt to mix the pigment first with the oil of their choice, rather than applying the pigment on the surface, and topped with oil.

A universal rule among painters is the fat over lean rule which means that less oil should be applied at the surface to allow easy drying of the material. The higher the layer, the oilier it gets, thereby giving the outer layer the best glow in the canvas.

Moreover, this should be the standard technique because the lower layer sucks up the paint from the upper layers.

The surface coat or the under painting lay an important foundation and must be carefully applied. A thinner or turpentine lays the groundwork in every oil painting. Let it dry, and then proceed to undertake the mosaic surface or beginning with a murky or shadowy color to the brightest.

Here, the painting will appear dramatic, not to mention. Again, this layer has to be dried up. The artist may proceed to add intricate details in the next layer, and then the succeeding ones.

However, this may take years to dry up. In the Impressionist era, notable artist in this period is Jan van Eyck, began reconstructing the traditional technique called Direct Painting. Instead of letting it dry for several months, they immediately paint wet paint on wet layer.

While the character is bizarre, the contemporary artists began to embrace this new style, and adopt it. Renaissance artists would prefer to seal the painting with a varnish, but Impressionist painters would have it varnish-free, maintaining the original art as they painted it.

The best thing about oil painting is that it can be redone anytime. The reason since oil paints does not dry immediately, it can stay wet for an hour, and hence, the artist can alter the style, texture, or totally remove the design until it becomes dry.

The solidified layer must be scraped in order to give the painting a smooth and downy effect. In scraping off the dry matter, never leave traces of chafed grime because traces of scraping to become obvious when scrutinized.

While it can be considered dry at first look, be cautious in finishing the art because some oil paints will completely dry for sixty to eighty years.

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pTo take a look at more articles just like this one, click here: a TARGET=_new href=http://www.paintonmycanvas.com/ezine.html rel=nofollowOil Painting/a/ppYou will be taken to the registration page where you give your name and email address and you receive every 4 articles on canvas, oil, watercolor painting and pencil, cartoon drawing./ppMurtaza Habib has helped hundreds of newbies to start their painting courses, now you can do it too…/ppKeep visiting a TARGET=_new href=http://www.paintonmycanvas.com/ezine.html rel=nofollowPaint on my canvas/a for unique articles on drawing and painting./pbr
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