Visual Arts Topic
Painting
- Read notes
- Flashcards
- Quiz
- Confident
Study focus - 3 things
- Painting uses colour, brushwork, and surface to create an artwork
- Good painting starts with planning, observation, and control of materials
- Know basic painting terms such as colour, tone, texture, and brushstroke
Section 1What painting is
Painting is making an artwork by applying paint to a surface. The surface may be paper, canvas, board, or another suitable material. In plain words, painting is not just colouring in; it is using paint to show an idea, object, place, or mood.
Section 2Planning the painting
Before painting, decide what the artwork will show, where the main shapes will go, and what colours you need. A light sketch can help organise the composition. Here's the trick: planning reduces messy corrections later.
Section 3Colour and tone
Colour helps create mood and focus. Tone means how light or dark a colour is. Watch out: a painting can look flat if every area has the same tone.
Section 4Brushwork and texture
Brushstrokes can be smooth, rough, short, long, thick, or thin. Texture is how a surface looks or feels, such as rough tree bark or smooth glass. A painting of a mango on a Jamaican kitchen table may use soft blending for the fruit and rougher strokes for the basket.
Examples
A painting of a bottle looks flat. What could the artist add?
The artist could add tones: lighter areas where light hits and darker areas in shadow. This helps the bottle look three-dimensional.
You are painting a view of Devon House. Why might you sketch lightly before painting?
A light sketch helps place the main building, trees, and path before adding colour. That makes the composition easier to control.
Now let's water it
Session runs notes to flashcards to quiz back-to-back.