WHICH MATERIALS SHOULD USE TO PAINT?
In the previous article we had solved the primary question to face a work..., (what to paint). I will now try to respond to a new uncertainty, once the reason for the new job is resolved.
In the market there is a great diversity of materials and resources to be able to execute the work and with them to capture and express in the most accurate and precise way the idea regent.
The origin of pictorial materials may be different; they come from the animal or plant kingdom, (organic), the mineral kingdom, (inorganic) and more recently, synthetic (artificial). There are water materials, (acrylics, watercolors, temperas, inks, etc.) and solvent materials, (oils, synthetic enamels,...)
There are colored pencils of different qualities, (common, watercolors), pastels, etc
WATER PAINT
All water paint is fast drying, almost immediately; depending on the amount of material and water being used and on which surface you work.
Many people consider them the most suitable medium for novice painters but due to my experience of years of workshop and with novice students I have found that in the absence of experience and a refined mastery of the technique, is preferable a material that provides more work time and a slower drying as could be the use of oil paint. Especially if in the composition there is some color gradient or if you want to make a perfect vanishing.
But as they say..."each teacher with his booklet". Something that could help to get started in painting using water materials would be the use of drying retardants that also exist in the market.
OIL PAINT
The oil paint is much slower drying which allows to do the work in a longer time, (even to leave it for a few days and continue without difficulty or variation in the tones), to make faded, to correct errors, finish details, etc. Drying accelerators also exist on the market.
EXPERIMENTATION AND COMBINATIONS
Having said all this, it is pertinent to clarify that in the artistic process of painting everything is allowed and the moment of experimentation is "fundamental"; it is also very true that each material has its own characteristic and expressiveness.
There is a suitable support for each material, for example, although the watercolor can be used on various supports: wood, fabric, it is ideal to use good or very good quality weight watercolor paper.
To the material used to paint specifically, (whatever its origin), it is totally valid to add some other type of material or resource to give relief or texture to the work if it is necessary and helps the expressiveness (stuffed, gesso, wood, cardboard, fabrics, etc.). It is also valid the use of mixed techniques such as collage and the combination of resources and elements always remembering that "less is more" and that, in my opinion, the important thing is the content of the work.
The main matter about the choice of the material for the work is to be able to take out the best possible from it and to capture in the better way the idea or message not only with the image and palette chosen, but also with the material used.