1.Brushes. You must have many brushes so that not to lose time washing them while working. Take a new brush for every new mix. Use round kolinsky brushes, #1 to #10. To cover better surfaces, you would require a few #20 to #35 brushes.

2.The palette should be made of hard dark wood, best of all, of pear. After work wash the palette with turpentine and rub it with a razor. Before work clean the palette with linseed oil.

3.The canvas must be primed as well a few more times and in conclusion it should be ground with fine sandpaper. After that the canvas must be scraped with a razor to take away the canvas texture till smooth dead surface similar to the egg’s surface is achieved.

4.It is very significant to have objects for still lives in the studio. Don’t be stingy at garage sales and flea markets, you might regret it later.

5.The drawing is ready on paper life-size to the smallest details. Then it is transferred to the canvas by carbon-paper. After that the drawing is outlined with brown ink as the first oil layer.

6.Before each new layer the canvas (ideally dried during 7 weeks) is cautiously wiped with a half of an onion (in order to prepare the dried surface to soak up better) and then with linseed oil. After that the canvas is wiped with a soft part of cloth.

7.IMPRIMATURA or the first paint layer. The canvas is covered with a fluid mixture based on Red Ochre, Yellow Ochre Light and Ivory Black (the mixture must have an olive hue).

8.The dead layer - the fourth PODMALYOVOK - is made with white lead, light ocher, red ocher, and even burnt bone. The aim of this PODMALYOVOK is penumbra. The picture should look as if its objects were lit with moonlight - olive cold gray color. Colors are applied densely, half a tone higher, shadows are very transparent, half a tone lower.

There are basic tools you require for most any kind of painting job:

• Step stool or ladder
• Drop cloths
• Paintbrushes, 1” and 2”
• Artist brush for small spaces
• Angled sash brushes, 1 ½” and 2”
• Buckets
• Sandpaper
• Paint edger
• Rollers
• Roller pan with screen
• Roller handle
• Roller extension
• Paint guide
• Spackle or wood filler
• 2” masking tape
• Paint thinner – if you are using oil based paints
• Rags
• Tack cloth

There are expertise tools you might desire to use for special paint effects:

• Tape measurer
• Plumb line for marking vertical drops
• Natural or synthetic mop for the sponging technique
• Chamois for ragging
• Different shapes of rubber combs for wood grain effects
• Craft knives

There are a variety of paints suitable for use on dissimilar surfaces and for achieving dissimilar effects. It is significant that you decide the right paint for the surface on which you are painting, and to get the look you desire.

Porous surfaces and bare woods need the use of a primer to seal the wall and provide a base for the paint finishes. A basecoat on top of the primer not only protects the surface but also provides a soft base for the topcoat.

Traditional paints are water or oil based and classically come in four finishes:

• Matt – Flat finish water based paint used on essential walls. Fast drying and tends to mark easily.
• Satin – Mid sheen oil based paint that is washable and tougher than the matt finish.
• Gloss – Oil based paint with a high sheen end that is washable and durable.
• Eggshell – Faint sheen oil based paint that tends to show marks.

Acrylic paints are water based and could be added to other water based paints for decorative motifs and embellishments. Enamel paints are oil based and is used on metal surfaces and other surfaces requiring a rough finish. Both acrylic and enamel paints come in a broad variety of colors.

1. Buy a loaf (two or three loaves if the painting is large) of high-quality doughy bread–a large sourdough works nicely.

2. On a pretty day, take the painting outdoors–or work in on a large drop cloth–since this is an untidy procedure.

3. Using dough pulled from the inside of the loaf; scrub the painting using gentle pressure. You would see the soil collect on the dough. Get a new hunk of dough as the older piece gets filthy or disintegrates. Continue this process over the whole surface of the work.

4. Using a soft bristle brush– such as a fine quality house painting brush–brush the left over dough crumbs off the painting. Go systematically over the entire surface as the dough likes to stick and any remaining crumbs would be an enticement to insects.

Good luck with your spring cleaning!

When painting a room, the first step (and perhaps the most important) is preparing the surface. Poor surface preparation is the number one cause of paint failure and could also ruin your desired effect if not done properly.

1.Before you start, do not forget to put a drop sheet on the floor and cover any  furnishings you don’t desire splattered with paint.
2.Thoroughly fresh and dry the surface before painting.
3.As a general rule of thumb, anything with a glossy surface needs to be dulled before painting.
4.High-gloss surfaces should be cleaned and sanded in order for the paint to bond.
5.An oil based primer or coat of flat paint can take the shine off a surface and arrange it for the new paint.You would require a flat, smooth surface for this to work effectively.
6.Scrape off flaking paint and wallpaper.
7.Patch holes and cracks, allowing the area to dry before proceeding.
8.Sand raised imperfections, bubbles and blisters.
9.Apply a primer if necessary. Repaired, patched, stained and new surfaces need a coat of primer before painting.If the surface has been painted before, you only require to paint the patched or repaired areas.

Oil painting is straightforward, far easer than etching or even watercolor painting. If you can see something, you could paint it in oils. To create something memorable, however, you need to:
1. Formulate what you hope to attain, and devise a workable route to that objective.
2. Research the market if you desire to sell the work.
3. Approach the painting course in logical steps that usually entail:
A. Drawings to explore compositional possibilities.
B. Blocked-out charcoal/pencil/oil sketches to arrange tonal values.
C. Oil sketches to experiment with a range of color schemes and harmonies.
D. Preparing canvas and paint for the anticipated tasks.
E. Applying paint to canvas, either incorporate the results of b and c in direct painting, or by tackling them in distinct phases.
F. Varnishing, framing and hanging the work.

Abstract art is now usually understood to mean art that does not portray objects in the natural world, but in its place uses shapes and colors in a non-representational or prejudiced way. In the very early 20th century, the term was more frequently used to explain art, such as Cubist and Futurist art, which depicts real forms in a cut down or rather abridged way - keeping only a reference of the original natural subject. Such paintings were frequently claimed to capture something of the depicted objects’ immutable inherent qualities rather than its exterior appearance. See Abstraction. The term non-figurative is used as a synonym

History

On White 2, 1924, by Kandinsky Non-objective art is not a creation of the twentieth century. In the Jewish and Islamic devotion the depiction of human beings was not allowed. Consequently the Islamic and Jewish cultures urbanized a high standard of decorative arts. Calligraphy is too a form of non-figurative art. Abstract designs have also existed in western culture in a lot of contexts. However, Abstract art is distinct from pattern-making in design, since it draws on the difference between decorative art and fine art, in which a painting is an entity of thoughtful contemplation in its own right.

Even before the extensive use of photography some artists, such as James McNeill Whistler were insertion greater emphasis on illustration sensation than the depiction of objects. Whistler argued that art must concern itself with the harmonious arrangement of colors, just as music deals with the harmonious deal of sounds. Whistler’s painting Nocturne in Black and Gold: The Falling Rocket (1874) is frequently seen as a main move towards abstraction. Later artists such as Wassily Kandinsky argued that modern science dealt with active forces, enlightening that matter was eventually spiritual in character: art must display the spiritual forces behind the image world. Many of these artists were prejudiced by esotericism movements such as theosophy, in which abstract “thought forms” were used to illustrate the psychic forces allegedly generated by emotions, music and other events. The work of Wassily Kandinsky and Kashmir Malevich in addition to Natalia Goncharova and Mikhail Larionov, are usually seen as the first entirely abstract paintings in 1911. Movements in modern art are to be careful in terms of the concepts which they exemplify, accompanied as they were by manifestos and declarations.

Modern art is an artistic movement which emerged in the late 19th and 20th century. It refers to the new approach where it is no longer a necessity to portray subjects realistically as photography has resolved it. Here artists started experimenting with new approaches and techniques towards nature, materials, and other representations of nature with fresh ideas often moving towards abstraction.

Modern art began as a western movement particularly in painting and then extending towards print making, sculpture and architecture. Various other art movements emerged under the influence of modern art namely impressionism in the late 19th century and expressionism in 20th century.

Listing on the art movements which emerged under the influence of modern art are
1. Impressionism, post impressionism and fauvism.
2. Cubism
3. Expressionism
4. Futurism
5. Abstract painting
6. Suprematism
7. Constructivism
8. Dadaism
9. Surrealism

In the late 1950 there was emergence of art movements combining the above forms; abstract expressionism, Pop art, Op art and Minimal art; in the late 1960s and the 1970s, Land art, Performance art, Conceptual art and Photorealism emerged. Around this period a number of artists started rejecting modern art and began with post modern art or contemporary art.

Abstract art, the term more often used in the twentieth century is a non representational way of portraying one’s idea with a theme (subject) based on the effects of colors, depth, solidity, lines and other spatial factors on human and their emotions. Abstract art hence does not depict an object precisely. It is the independence given to its artists to represent their views in any form they wish. Wassily Kandinsky known to be the founder of abstract art believed that science deals with dynamic forces ultimately revealing that matter is spiritual in character.

The Quality of a painting or a photograph depends upon the composition of it which sorts out the difference between amateur photos from the professional ones. The same applies for paintings. Abstract painting especially should have a well balanced composition in visual effect (with right gesture) and representation otherwise it would appear boring to its viewers.

People generally have a feeling that abstract paintings are easier to paint than any other type of painting. This is not true because abstract painting needs special attention from both sides, from the artist as well as from its viewers. Artists should take care that the abstract painting has a balanced state of color, line and space with a dynamic tension placed to attract its viewers. The viewer at the same time should not try to find out real world objects in the abstract art rather should relax and enjoy abstract painting. Let your eye wander through the abstract paintings and your mind react to its colors, depth, shape, texture and the force existing in it.

Abstract art is not an invention of the twentieth century but has been in existence long before. In Jewish and Islamic religion depiction of human being was not allowed hence they developed such artistic forms for decorative purposes. Later on famous artist’s works such as Wassily Kandinsky, James McNeill Whistler, Kasimir Malevich were the first to be seen and sorted as abstract painting.

Abstract art even though is a non representational way which does not depict an object precisely but is the one which clearly represents an imaginative mind.� Abstract art generally classified as figurative and Emotional abstraction. Figurative abstraction is the simplification of the reality eliminating the details of recognizable objects and providing only the essence of recognition and reality.� Emotional abstraction deals with non visual elements such as emotion, sound and spritual matters.

Cubism, Neoplasticism, and Abstract Expressionism are other forms of abstract paintings which came in to existence in the 20th century.

Painting is an art drawn on a medium such as canvas, paper, wall etc using a variety of appropriate pigments and appliers. The usage of all three painting materials such as the medium, the pigment and the appliers used various from one artist to another. As one artist may be very comfortable using a paint brush and the other his own hand.

Apart from these basic painting materials, a major factor deciding a good painting depends upon the artist mind, his ideas, and view points and above all how he tries to project his idea on the medium.

Color is the matter of painting bringing in life and liveliness to it.  The perfect way of portraying a theme or any real life object is trying to get the exact color combination. Getting the perfect one is not so easy hence painters prepare their own colors in order to bring in the best image they want to portray in the medium.

Painting has been in existence for a long period from the time when man wanted to portray his ideas or wanted to represent any aspect such as an event or an object. Pre-historic paintings existed on rocks and caves mostly using a black pigment to represent animals, hunting, human figurines etc. As the days past by the medium, the paint and other paintings materials changed so as to improvise the painting on the whole.

Today a variety of painting materials are available suiting various environment and painting techniques but mainly these materials are classified as interior and exterior paintings. Exterior painting materials involve using water resistant base and mediums where as interior painting does not require being water resistant. Interior painting materials include oil paint, water colors etc.

Today there are not only various painting materials but there are also various styles and techniques of painting. Styles of paintings as such includes abstract art which involves in depicting the artist idea in a non representational or non objective way, modern painting focusing more on the beauty of the painting rather than the originality of the figurine, natural paintings clearly represents a place or any natural existence such as a flower or tree.

Techniques of paintings could be from brush painting, finger paintings etc to digital painting using computers. Following is a list of painting techniques and styles.

Painting techniques
1. Impasto
2. Computer painting (Digital)
3. Glaze
4. Grisaille
5. Pointillism (aka divisionism, ’stippling’)
6. Scumble
7. Sfumato
8. Sumi-e
9. Wash

Painting Styles
1. Abstract
2. Baroque
3. Constructivism
4. Cubism
5. Fauvism
6. Graffiti
7. Hard-edge
8. Impressionism
9. Mannerism
10. Modernism
11. Naïve art
12. Neo-classicism
13. Op-Art
14. Orientalism
15. Pointillism
16. Pop-Art
17. Postmodernism
18. Realism
19. Romanticism
20. Romantic realism
21. Socialist Realism
22. Surrealism