Paintings on paper

Paintings on paper

The paintings on paper are multifaceted in execution style, but each allows one to look into a fairytale world where everything is the same as it is in reality: landscapes, still life, animals, but a little differently.

Since ancient times, artists have been painting and drawing on paper not only using oil, but also pastel paints, tempera, watercolors, gouache. Benedictine monk Theophilus wrote about paper as a basis for painting as early as the 12th century. The oldest painting - a sketch of a male head stored in the Louvre, it belongs to the Leonardo School. Since the 17th century, the number of artists who have chosen paper instead of the traditional canvas has been increasing, but these are small artworks - sketches, miniatures. To create large-scale artworks, artists continue to use traditional canvas and oil paints.

Difficulties of painting and drawing on paper

Despite the fact that many types of paper have been created specifically for artworks, it has disadvantages that are difficult to come to terms with.

The basis for painting should not be bleach and sodium sulfide. Easily oxidizable compounds must be absent - manganese salts and resin acids present in many adhesive compositions: through them the paper quickly turns yellow, loses strength. Very harmful metal particles that come from presses during the manufacturing. This is serious, though it may seem a trifle, the colors can change when they come in contact with them: for example, yellow cadmium becomes darker till the black.

Which paper is used by artists to create artworks

For the artist are important indicators of density, transparency, ability to light reflection. The higher the whiteness, the clearer are the details. Glossy paper glitters, the light from it is reflected, and the matte reflects diffusely, scattering light in all directions. It is more convenient when the artist needs details. The grainy texture adds volume to the image.

• Watercolor on paper with a density of 200 - 250 g / sq. m has high rates of whiteness, graininess. It is important that in the composition of the paper were only cotton fibers. Top brands are Arches, Fabriano, Cotman.
• Indian ink. The main criterion is a test for the preservation when using an eraser. Density is 150 - 200 g / sq.m. The base should not be grainy, as the ink will slip into hollows.
• Pastel. Paper with a pronounced texture is used, more often - colored, so the colors turn out to be more saturated.
• Acrylic. It is the most plastic painting technique, so there are almost no special requirements. It is suitable for any kind of dense, but dense, but the best - with impregnation for acrylic paints (Montval by Canson, Pittura by Fabriano).
• Oils. Requires preliminary preparation of the paper - priming of the material with acrylic-styrene lacquer, this eliminates contact with paints that can deform it.

Contemporary Ukrainian artists prefer to use waxed, chalked paper to create paintings. Widely used embossed or kraft embossed with the texture perfect for pastel drawings. There are no exact recipes, because painting is a whole living world where improvisation is always welcome.

Paper is sacred to the artist. Its shades and texture are transformed at the hand of the master into an obedient instrument, giving the opportunity to work in a variety of techniques.