Classic painting techniques add interest to your artwork
Three classic painting techniques--encaustic, en plein air and fresco--have existed for thousands of years. They have experienced a resurgence over the years as artists return to study the techniques used by the master artists of long ago. Each of these techniques, while challenging, offers qualities that result in paintings with interesting characteristics.
Encaustic Technique
Encaustic painting, used since the ancient Greek civilizations, has fallen in and out of favor several times. During the last 200 years, it has seen a few small revivals. Encaustic refers to a type of painting completed with a wax-paint mixture. Wax of different types heated and mixed with pigment results in an oil paint effect that can be as thin as a glaze or can create heavy impasto effects. If the impasto wax-paint surface is thick enough, you can carve it to supply more depth and texture. The resulting surface dries to a more durable finish than oils while retaining an oil-like texture. Another advantage over other types of paints is that even after it has dried, the surface remains workable if reheated.
Paint encaustic on a sturdy surface to avoid cracking. Use a mixture of tempera or oil paints mixed into a mixture of beeswax and linseed oil or damar resin. The most common mixture is 90 to 95 percent beeswax with 5 to 10 percent damar resin. Modern-day art suppliers offer premixed wax combinations, as well as paint already containing the wax combination.
En Plein Air Technique
The term "en plein air" comes from the French language and translates to "in the open air." The technique generally refers to landscape painting completed on site, in a natural setting. A true en plein air painting is completed entirely on site from a portable studio containing all painting supplies, a portable easel and perhaps a chair or stool. Traditional en plein air artists often use oil paints because of their extended drying time and ability to blend natural-looking colors easily. The painting usually takes just a few hours to complete, though some artists may return for a second sitting to complete it. Some artists may choose to add a few final changes once back in their studio, however, these are minor.
An en plain air painting concentrates details on colors and the play of light and shadow. Use your hands to form a frame and locate exactly which part of the landscape you wish to draw. Begin with large shapes and blocks of color tones while keeping in mind the lights and shadows. Most en plein air artists start in this way and quickly lay out the entire painting. At first, it may look like an abstract work. Slowly add detail to your painting until you have captured the essence of the scene in which you sit in the open air.
Fresco Technique
Fresco painting requires great artistic skill, stamina and plaster. Fresco painting usually occurs on large murals and has existed for thousands of years. One of the most famous frescoes is that completed by Michelangelo on the Sistine Chapel ceiling. True fresco artwork lasts for hundreds of years because the paint becomes a part of the painting surface itself rather than being a layer of paint sitting on top of it. A true fresco is completed on wet plaster.
For a traditional fresco, you layer two or three coarse layers of plaster on the wall in the days before painting and allow this to dry. On the day of painting, a final, fine layer of plaster is applied. To this wet layer, you apply paint pigment that has been mixed with limewater. The result, over several hours of work time during which you apply light layers of tone and color, is a chemical reaction between the plaster and the pigment mixture that bonds the pigment to the plaster. The pigment becomes a part of the plaster. Another type of fresco, not considered a true fresco by some professionals, involves painting an already-dried plaster wall with limewater and then adding pigment. This technique does not allow for a chemical reaction with the plaster itself, and so the result is a layer of paint on top of the plaster and not the pigment becoming a part of the wall. Most professionals consider the latter technique inferior.
