Common Types of Paints
October 22nd, 2007 | by Art Supplies |There are different types of paints available in the market to meet your painting requirements and each has its own characteristic. These paints include oil paints, pastels and watercolors etc.
Oil Paints. T is a paint which dries slowly. In this paint the drying oil consists of pigment particles of small size. These pigment particles are suspended in the oil. For decoration purposes the oil paints were used as early as 13th century but they were extensively used for the purpose of painting around 15th century. Nowadays the oil paints are used for domestic purposes on a very large scale. The oil paints are available in luminous colors they are tough paints i.e. they have the ability to resist extensive wear. These characteristics have raised the demand of the oil paints to be used for both exterior and interior painting.
Acrylic paints. Acrylic paint consists of an acrylic polymer solution and the pigment is suspended in it. The paint is a fast drying one. When dry these pants are water resistant. These paints can be diluted by mixing them with water. An acrylic painting may resemble an oil painting or watercolor painting. It may also have its own distinct characteristics. These characteristics are hard o attain with any other medium. Its main difference from the oil paints is the drying time. It takes less and oil paint takes more time to dry up. Less pigment is absorbed by the acrylic paints as compared to the oil paints. These paints are very stable and in their history there has not been a single case where the acrylic paints might have faltered.
Watercolor Painting. It is known as Aquarelle in French. The paints are produced when a water soluble vehicle contains pigments suspended in it. Paper is the most common support for a watercolor and it is also the most traditional. It can also have supports like bark paper, papyrus, vellum, plastics, canvas, fabric and wood. In Eastern Asia it is known as brush painting and has also got traditional roots in India, Japan and China etc. It has four main constituents namely additives, colorant, binder and solvent.
Painting With Pastels. Pastels are available in the form of a stick and they are an artwork medium. It consists of a binder and a pigment that is powdered. The pigment used in the pastels and the ones used for producing other paint mediums are the same. The word pastel is used in very forms. When used as a noun it means pastel artwork, when used as a verb it refers to the process of artwork production and as an adjective it means pale color.
Mixed media Painting. It is a fact that oil, wax and water do not mix. This can be used to an advantage when there is a need to retain the white of the paper by masking out. It can also be used to retain the color beneath. This process also creates very interesting textures.
