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Course: Special topics in art history > Unit 2
Lesson 7: Painting terms in action- Art Terms in Action: Turpentine Burn
- Art Terms in Action: Palette Knife
- Art Terms in Action: Stain
- Art Terms in Action: Emulsion
- Art Terms in Action: Enamel
- Art Terms in Action: Paint
- Art Terms in Action: Tint, Shade, and Tone
- Art Terms in Action: Viscosity
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Art Terms in Action: Stain
To experiment on your own, take our online studio course Materials and Techniques of Postwar Abstract Painting. Created by The Museum of Modern Art.
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What are the differences in the effect that you get using this compared to the effect that you get using water-colours?(21 votes)
The difference is that once the stain dries you can paint another layer over it without the new paint mixing with the old, as it would in water color. Many artists used dozens of layers of oil paint in stain form to create subtle depth as each layer glows with the reflected and refracted light that shines through it.(20 votes)
Since the watercolor medium is sustained by the use of staining the canvas, is there any long-term consequences of non-conservation efforts to the painting? By non-conservation I am thinking about possibly water damage to a painting or something along those lines. Also, since staining soaks through the canvas, I'm curious as to the drying time of the paint itself.(6 votes)
At what point in hystory, that simple and abstract draws started to be called art?(3 votes)- I think as soon as it looks purposeful instead of just random scribbles, we can call it art. Certainly the drawings of animals on cave walls and the chipping of petroglyphs into stone count as art.(1 vote)
so stain is like water paint?(2 votes)
What type of solvent would you use to create a stain with acrylic paint, would you still use turpentine? Can you even make a stain with acrylic, and does it look different?(2 votes)
What is added to color to create stain at0:12? Sorry,my English is not so good...(1 vote)- The product he adds is called "turpentine" -- it is a solvent, which means that the paints dissolve into it and it can become very thin, like water.(1 vote)
- Who is "Rothko"? An abstract artist?(1 vote)
What is the difference between watercolors and oil paints effect wise?(1 vote)
The effect may look similar if you are only using one layer, but for many layers, oil paint stains worked differently. When you use watercolors, adding another layer makes the one underneath wet again. For certain techniques, that was useful. But, with oils, you could layer many thin layers of paint on top of each other without wetting the layers underneath. This gave a translucent effect, so you could almost see through the painting.(1 vote)
- Is this anything like water-color? I imagine not, but am not sure.(1 vote)
There are water-based stains but its not quite like water-colors(1 vote)
They are too short! I wish they where not.(1 vote)
Try to put this in the Tips and Thanks please.(1 vote)
0:12Video transcript
Male: A stain is made
when you take a paint and you thin it out with a lot of solvent. In the case of oil painting,
a lot of turpentine. The paint becomes very, very watery. It becomes very dilute. The color is reduced, and also because it's so watery that stain
can actually penetrate into the canvas itself. In the work of Rothko
we know that he layered stain over, stain, over stain. We're quite literally
seeing through these very, very thin washes, if you will, of paint.