Painting and its Techniques

Painting used to be viewed as a mood expression and depiction of reality from the artist’s end, as viewed by the artist, a visual representation of a philosophical concept, an invocation of divine favors, or decorating for a celebration.

Components of Painting:

The main physical aspects and components of painting are as follows:

The surface upon which a painting is created: 

Throughout India’s history, rock sides, including caves, house walls, flooring, doorway, a palm leaf, a piece of wood, fabric, or perhaps even the palm of a hand, have all been utilized as backgrounds. The various components of paintings are given below.

• The surface determines the compatibility of colors, varnishes, and tools
• Water-based acrylics cannot be used since hardwood has an oily surface

Colors in the Painting: 

Based on the source or origin, colors in a painting might be biological or inorganic.

• Organic Colours: The artist’s palette is filled with infinite colors offered by nature in the form of flowers, leaves, stones, and sometimes even cow excrement or soot retrieved to make the following colors
• Indigo: To generate a variety of blue colors, indigo is obtained from the indigo plant
• Red: Madder bark and leaves
• Ochre yellow: Karaka flower petals mixed with water and powdered alkali
• Inorganic Colours: Industrialization gave rise to inorganic or chemical colors like acrylic, emulsion, etc

Adhesive or Glue:

It is used to secure the artwork to the ground.

• Oil has been used in western paintings for centuries, and the paintings were known as oil paintings
• Watercolor canvases are paintings that use water as a medium
• Painting a variety of natural-resource-derived instruments or tools, such as
• Longer have had their thickets stripped away, resulting in thin sticks
• Brushes for the bird, squirrel, and cat feathers
• Bamboo slivers have been buried and become fibrous

What is Cloth Painting:

Making a Kalamkari: 

Andhra Pradesh’s kalamkari or vrathapani exhibits the utilization of a wide range of environmental materials to produce a work of art; it is a prominent form of cloth painting.

• Kalamkari applies towards both printed and painted fabric and signifies ‘pen craft’ in Persian
• Artists experimenting with depictions of vegetation, fruits, florals, and decorative birds in the 17th century were influenced by Persian influences

Using a Kalam to Paint:

The artwork is entirely done with a pen, while the kalam is fashioned from a bamboo sliver coiled with wool in one portion and dyed using natural pigments.

• Outlines are drawn with black ink.
• Colors for filling in details are jaggery, rusted iron filings, and water.

Painted Stories: 

Sri Kalahasti, a town in Andhra Pradesh, is known for its talent of painting tales on fabric; this is one of the most interesting forms of cloth painting.

• Large cloth paintings were traditionally used in temples as graphic renditions of the ancient epics, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata
• Paintings were often created to accompany prominent writers’ spiritual poems
• I am laying various colors on the fabric, washing it in running water, spraying water on it constantly to guarantee colorfastness and drying it in the sun all demand a high level of ability
• There are no chemicals used in cloth painting

What is Wall Painting:

• Works of art on wall surfaces are done to request the deities to bless the land, keep animals healthy for field labor, provide a family with healthy offspring after marriages, and bless a newly built dwelling
• The human search to understand a bigger cosmos and power is shown in paintings on the walls of religious structures
• The ground in a wall painting or mural is the cave’s wall or stone
• The plaster on the wall is painted. Colors are frequently applied to wet plaster to fuse and attach the paint to the plaster

Wall Painting, Kerala

Wall Painting through the Ages:

• 10,000-8000 BCE: Prehistoric murals on cave temples and rock surfaces depict ancient human life and activities
• 1-1000: Murals representing the life of Buddha and other spiritual stories may be seen in Buddhist viharas (monasteries) and chaityas (prayer halls) such as Ajanta (Maharashtra), Alchi monastery (Ladakh), and Bagh (Bangladesh) (Madhya Pradesh)
• In Tamil Nadu, wall paintings may be found in the Kailashnath Temple in Kanchipuram and the Brihadisvara Temple in Thanjavur
• Ancient Jaina paintings have been discovered at Sittanavasal, Tamil Nadu’s Pudukkottai district
• Murals of the Andhra style may be found in Virubhadra Sanctuary in Lepakshi
• Mural paintings graced buildings from 1600 until 1900. Bundi, Jaipur, and Nagaur, as well as Patiala’s walled palace, are all great examples
• 1900-2000: Many of our local communities, particularly in Bihar, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, and Gujarat, strive to produce murals today; one of the famous types of painting in the Bihar region is Mithila painting

Mural and Fresco Paintings

• Paintings are not often named paintings because they are painted on walls. Classical architecture, such as temples, cathedrals, and palaces, is frequently referred to as “classical”
• These are sometimes referred to as fresco paintings. The mural method, which was recreated from prehistoric cave paintings in Wayanad, Kerala, is an example of fresco painting.
• Its topics include religious and historical epics
• The colors and clothing have a theatrical feel to them
• Layers of yellow ochre, red ochre, leaf green, lamp shot, and lime white are applied from light to dark

In conclusion

Our country has long been a repository of indigenous knowledge passed down from generation to generation. Artists of every generation have created the best works they could with the materials and technology available. Scholars have used terms such as minor art, utility art, folk art, tribal art, people’s art, ritual art, crafts, and others to describe these art forms. We know that these art forms have been around since the dawn of time. Examples have been found in prehistoric cave paintings and works of pottery, terracotta, bronze, ivory, and other Indus period materials. From the beginning to the end of history, we find references to artist communities. They made pots and dresses, as well as jewelry and ritual objects.

They decorated their walls and floors and did various other artistic things to meet their daily needs while also supplying their works to local markets. Their creations have an instinctive aesthetic expression. There is symbolism and the use of specific motifs, materials, colors, and production methods.