1. MEDIUM OF THE VISUAL
ARTS
Prepared by:
ERIC F. PAZZIUAGAN, RN, MAN

2. MEDIUM
 Refers to the materials which are used
by an artist.
 A means by which he communicates his
ideas.
 Very essential to art.

3. Painting
 The art of creating meaningful effects on a
flat surface by the use of pigments.
 Each medium exerts a pronounced effect on
the finished product, is capable of varied
treatment, and determines its own stroke.
 The materials of the painter are pigments
applied to wet plaster, canvas, wood or
paper.

4. Oil
 Pigments are mixed in oil.
 Surface: canvas, wood, paper, metal
 Most familiar type of painting is done with
oils on canvas.
 Surface most suitable: must receive oil freely
and yet not absorb it, can withstand
temperature changes, and not crack the
pigment on it.

5.  Pigments mixed with oil provide a medium
that gives richness in the opacity of light and
depth of shadow.
 Pigments can come from different sources:
minerals, vegetable matter, coal tars, and
other chemical combinations.
 Ground by hand or machine then mixed with oil.
 Painters usually depend upon those
pigments which do not change through the
years.

6.  Oil painting: popular because there are many
ways of handling oil pigments.
 It is possible to get a wide range of separate
effects.
 Pigment may be applied in a thick and heavy
manner or in washes of almost water color
transparency.
 Oil color is the best method for a convincing
representation where reproduction of color
is necessary.

7.  Its ease of handling, the easy blending of
tones, and the possibility of painting over
and covering any mistake are some of the
reasons why oil painting is a very popular
technique.
 Two methods of painting in oil:
 Direct method- paints are opaque and are
applied to the surface just as they are to look in
the finished product; more flexible
 Indirect method: paint is applied in many thin
layers of transparent color

8.  Disadvantages:
 Dries slowly and has a tendency to rise to the
surface and form a film over the picture, making
it appear dull.
 Has a tendency to become yellow and crack so
that preservation usually becomes a problem.

9. “Maria Makiling” by Carlos “Botong” Francisco

10. Tempera
 Mixture of ground pigments and an
albuminous or colloidal vehicle, either
egg, gum, or glue, used by
Egyptian, Medieval, and Renaissance
painters.
 Special characteristic: being an
emulsion
 Watery, milk-like texture of oily and watery
consistency.

11.  Usually done on a wooden panel that has
been smooth with a coating of plaster.
 The colors are mixed with egg yolk.
 There is little blending or fusing of colors
since paint dries rapidly.
 Colors are laid on side by side or
superimposed.
 Needs careful details.
 It is hard to obtain rich, deep tones, and
shadows.

12.  Advantages:
 Dries readily with the evaporation of water
 Great luminosity of tone
 Colors are clear and beautiful.

13. “Madonna Enthroned with Four Saints”

14. Watercolor
 Pigments are mixed with water and applied to
fine white paper.
 Good watercolor paintings are not easy to
make.
 Require a high degree of technical dexterity.
 In pure watercolor painting, all the light comes
from the ground.
 Paper is the most commonly used ground.
 Other ground: parchment, ivory, silk, and
cambric.

15.  A medium familiar to every school child.
 Gouache: opaque water color
 Made by grinding opaque colors with water and
mixing the product with a preparation of gum
and adding Chinese white to transparent
watercolors.
 It differs from the brilliant quality of translucent
water color painting whose major effects are
caused by the white paper.

17. Pastel
 The most recent medium.
 Possesses only surfaces of light, gives no
glazed effect, and most closely resembles
dry pigment.
 Pigment is bound so as to form a crayon
which is applied directly to the
surface, usually, paper.
 As support for pastel painting
paper, pasteboard or canvas is used.

18.  As far as the technique is concerned, the
painter is free to handle the material to suit
himself.
 It is a very flexible medium.
 Varied effects may be produced.
 Not a very popular medium because no one
has yet to discovered the way to preserve its
original freshness.
 The chalk tends to rub off and the picture
loses its brilliance.

21. Fresco
 The most popular type of painting.
 Colors are mixed with water and applied to
fresh plaster which absorbs the color.
 Since the pigment has been incorporated
with the plaster, it lasts until the wall is
destroyed.
 Flourished during the 15th and 16th century.
 Fresco means “fresh.”

22.  The process begins with preliminary
sketches, later enlarged to full-size cartoons
which are transferred to rough plaster.
 The coloring must be ready as soon as the
plaster is put on the wall.
 It is prepared by mixing a pigment with water
or with water and lime.
 When this is applied to the wet plaster, the
lime binds the pigment to the plaster and
makes the painting part of the wall.

23.  Since fresco must be done quickly, it is a
very exacting method.
 There is no changing once the design is
begun.
 Only earth pigments are used because of the
chemical action of the plaster on the paint.
 These colors have uniformity of tone and no
glaring contrasts.

24.  Disadvantages:
 Almost
impossible to
move a fresco
 Painting is
subject to
disasters that
may happen to
the wall of which
it has become a
part.

28. Acrylic
 The newest medium and one that is used widely
by painters today.
 Synthetic paints using acrylic emulsions as
binder.
 Combine transparency and quick- drying
qualities of watercolor and are as flexible as oil.
 They are completely insoluble when dry and can
be used almost on any surface.
 They do not tend to crack, and tun yellow with
age.

29. SCULPTURE
 In choosing a subject for the sculpture,
the most important thing to consider is
the material.
 Substances available for sculpture are
limitless.
 Different materials require different
methods of handling.

30.  Soft medium: will lend itself to a
modelling technique that uses
squeezing and shaping and
continuously adding itself to it as the
work goes on.
 Allows for the expansion of gesture.
 Hard medium: requires the process of
cutting and taking away from the block.
 Confined to the limits of the piece of wood
or stone.

31. Two Major Sculpture Processes
 Subtractive process:
 Unwanted material is cut away
 Carving of stone and wood
 Additive process:
 Example: Construction of figure by putting
together bits of clay, or by welding together parts
of metal.
 Final result if putting together smaller segments
of the material.

32. Two types of Sculpture
 Relief: figures which are attached to the
ground

33.  Free standing: can be seen from all sides

34. Stone and Bronze
 Stone:
 durable, resistant to the elements, fire,
and other hazards
 Heavy and breaks easily
 Marble- Favorite material in Greece and
Italy; high gloss when polished

36.  Metals:
 Most commonly used is bronze
 May be solid in small statues
 Hallowed in most large statues (heavy and
expensive)
 Tendency to crack when cooled
 Disadvantages: difficulty and intricacy in casting
bronze
 Rich color and texture: most beautiful media
 Light and can support itself in many positions
 Other metals: forged iron, welded steel, and
duraluminum

38. Wood
 Advantage: cheap, readily available, and easy
to cut
 Polishes well and has a smooth shiny surface
and beautiful color.
 Relatively light and can be easily made into a
variety of shapes.
 Popular in Paete, Pkil in Laguna and
Betis, Pampanga,
 Drawback: limited in size, burn easily, discolor
and decay easily

40. Ivory
 Intrinsic value of the material.
 Lends itself to technical mastery.
 Lacks the vigor of wooden statues
 Like wood, it also cracks
 Seldom used today.

42. Terra Cotta
 Plastic clay
 Yields to even the slightest pressure and can
be worked and re-worked until the artist has
achieved what he wants to do.
 Unfired clay is a fragile material and
sculpture in this medium would have a short
life.
 For a more durable work in clay, the sculptor
can fire the original in a kiln.

43.  Result is terra cotta which means “cooked
earth”
 Moderately coarse clay product fired at
comparatively low temperature.
 Usually painted and coated with heavy glaze.
 Breaks and chips easily.
 Not a strong material and it cannot stand
strain or weight.
 Beautiful and versatile medium.

45. Other Materials
 Aluminum
 Chromium
 Steel
 Plastic
 Less expensive
 Less fragile
 light
 Chemically treated clay
 Stone for casting in liquid form

46. Architecture
 Art of designing and constructing building.
 Functional definition: to fulfil a need that
leads to its creation.
 Materials used and the methods of
assembling them are among the factors
contributing to architectural style.
 Materials:
stone, wood, brick, concrete, glass.

47.  Wood:
 Common building material
 Advantages: abundance, relative
durability, and high tensile and
compressions strength
 Disadvantages: Easily destroyed by
moisture, insects, and fire
 Plywood: improved the structural
possibilities of wood; stronger than any
known material.

48.  Stone:
 Material used when permanence is desired
 Concrete:
 made of sand and gravel mixed with cement
 high compressive strength
 doesn’t crumble or break down when subjected
to heavy weight
 Does not corrode and is fire resistant
 Stronger: ferro-concrete or reinforced concrete
(reinforced with steel)

49.  Steel:
 Tough alloy of iron in variable amounts
 Malleable under proper conditions and greatly
hardened by sudden cooling
 Tensile strength
 Made possible the building of the high-rise
structures which are very popular this days.

51. Types of Construction
 Post-and-lintel:
 Consists of two vertical posts for support
(post) and horizontal one (lintel).
 Generally used for wooden buildings.

54.  Arch
 Dominant in Roman architecture
 Architectural forms built from pieces of wood
called voussoirs with joints between them and
are arranged in semi-circle.
 All materials are in compression
 Typical for stone construction: can stand great
pressure
 Dome is an extension of the arch
 Roof resembling an inverted cup or hemisphere,
formed by round arches or vaults rising from a round or
many-sided base.

57.  Cantilever
 Any structural part projecting horizontally and
anchored at one end only.
 Needs a beam with tensile strength, and does
not crack or break easily
 Largely utilized in buildings with steel as
medium
 Wood is also used but is limited since it has a
tendency to warp, sag or rot.
 Used in construction of skyscrapers which
depends for support upon a steel skeleton.