Art Mediums and Painting Techniques

• Art necessitates a medium for its existence and recognition.
• A medium in art is the material used by an artist to express their feelings or thoughts.

Classification of Art

• Visual/Space Art: Mediums are seen and occupy space; can be two-dimensional (2D) or three-dimensional (3D).
• Auditory/Time Art: Mediums are heard and expressed in time, like music and literature.
• Combined Art: Mediums are seen and heard, existing in both space and time.

Painting and Related Arts

• Painting: Applying pigment to a smooth surface (paper, canvas, etc.) to arrange forms, lines, and colors.

Mediums of Visual Arts

• Encaustic: A mix of beeswax, resin, and pigment applied to a porous surface, then heated to bind colors; polished for luster; example includes Egyptian Encaustic Paintings.
• Tempera: Earth/mineral pigments mixed with egg yolk/white; dries fast, requiring careful planning; example is "The Birth of Venus."
• Fresco: Earth pigments mixed with water applied to damp plaster; color integrates permanently; example includes Sistine Chapel Fresco Paintings.
• Watercolor: Ground pigment bound with gum arabic; applied thinly for a luminous texture; examples include works by Vicente Manansala and Cesar Legaspi.
• Oil: Pigment ground in linseed oil applied to primed canvas, thinned with solvents; examples include works by Juan Luna, Felix R. Hidalgo, Fernando Amorsolo, Vicente Manansala, and Victorio Edades.
• Acrylic: Synthetic paints using acrylic polymer emulsions; versatile with watercolor-like transparency and oil-like flexibility; examples include works by Cesar Legaspi, Jose Blanco, and Raphael Pacheco.

Mosaic Art

• Mosaic art creates pictures on flat surfaces using tesserae (small colored stone/glass pieces).
• Tesserae are embedded in damp mortar following a design.
• Mosaic art was important in Byzantine churches; example is Empress Theodora in San Vitale, Ravena, Italy.
• Philippine examples include altar design of Sta. Cruz Church (Manila), FEU Chapel façade, floor design of Church of the Holy Sacrifice (UP Diliman).

Stained Glass

• Stained glass became important in Gothic cathedrals.
• It provided light, religious instruction via biblical scenes.
• Translucent glass is colored by mixing metallic oxides, cut into shapes, and held together by lead strips.
• Examples include the Battle of La Naval in Sto. Domingo Church (Quezon City) and works by Antonio Dumlao at FEU.

Tapestry

• Tapestries decorated European palaces/castles in the Middle Ages.
• They added color and retained heat.
• Fabrics with woven colored designs, following a pattern under the warp threads.

Drawing

• Drawing is a fundamental art skill used to visualize objects.
• Types: study (learning), sketch (planning), cartoon (basis for other work), and artwork (finished piece).
• Mediums used include pencil, ink, pen, pastel, charcoal, crayons, and silverpoint.

Printmaking

• Printmaking creates graphic images through duplication.
• A master image is prepared on wood, metal, or stone.
• Printmaking is an independent art form.

Four Major Processes in Printmaking

• Relief Printing: Cutting away unwanted portions, leaving the design raised; color prints use separate blocks.
• Intaglio Printing: Design is scratched into a metal plate, filled with ink, and leaves a sharp impression under pressure.
• Planographic Process: Printing from a smooth surface treated chemically/mechanically, like lithography.
• Stencil Process: Designs are cut out, and ink is rubbed over to reproduce the design.

Photography

• Photography is "drawing/writing with light."
• Three-step process: choosing subject, mechanical process using camera, chemical development.

Sculpture

• Sculpture is a three-dimensional form representing a shape.
• Can be free-standing, relief, or kinetic.
• Free-standing sculpture has multiple viewpoints.
• Relief sculpture projects from a background; bas relief is slightly raised, high relief projects by ½ thickness or more.
• Mobiles are kinetic sculptures made of metal, glass, wood, or plastic; associated with Alexander Calder.

Methods of Sculpture

• Carving: Subtractive process removing material to reveal form.
• Modeling: Additive process building the form with clay/wax. Uses an armature (skeleton).
• Casting: Reproduces forms in bronze/metals from a negative mold.
• Fabrication: A 20th-century method joining materials by nailing, stapling, soldering, or welding.

Mediums of Sculpture

• Materials include wood (soft/hard), stone (marble, granite, basalt, jade), ivory, metals, plaster, clay, glass, plastics, and luminal (electronic devices).

Architecture and Related Arts

• Architecture designs/constructs buildings for a function.
• Uses durable materials with beauty potential.
• Usefulness/beauty relates to material choice/handling.

Construction Principles

• Post-and-Lintel: Two vertical supports (posts) spanned by a horizontal beam (lintel).
• Arch: Wedge-shaped blocks (voussoirs) in a semicircle, locked by a keystone.
• Truss: Triangular forms create a rigid framework for wide spaces.
• Skeleton Construction: Uses reinforced concrete and steel; steel rods embedded in concrete.
• Cantilever: Beam/slab extends horizontally, relying on material strength.

Interior Design

• Interior design selects space/furnishings for livability.

Landscaping

• Landscaping arranges outdoor areas aesthetically.
• Uses terrain, sand, rocks, water, and plants as mediums.

The Medium of Music

• The material of music is sound.
• Tones are produced by instruments and the human voice.
• Most instruments have a vibrating part, amplifying part, and pitch regulation.

Musical Instruments

• Instruments are grouped by vibrators/resonators into "families."
• Stringed instruments
• Wind instruments (woodwinds & brasses)
• Percussion instruments
• Keyboard instruments

Instrumental Groups

• Orchestra: Large group with string section nucleus.
• Band: Smaller, mainly wind/percussion instruments.
• Chamber music: Small groups like woodwind quintet, string quartet.
• Philippine musical ensembles: Rondalla, Pangkat Kawayan.

The Human Voice

• Human voice is classified by range and tone.
• Soprano: High-pitched female.
• Alto: Low-pitched female.
• Tenor: High-pitched male.
• Bass: Low-pitched male.
• Intermediate: Mezzo-soprano (female), Baritone (male).

The Mediums of Other Arts

• Literature: Language
• Dance: Body Movements
• Theatrical Productions: Several Mediums