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March is Youth Art Month and National Craft Month! Youth Art MonthCreated in 1961, Youth Art Month is an annual observance to emphasize the value of art education and to encourage support for quality school art programs. In 1984 the Council for Art Education, Inc., was created to administer the program and to encourage funding. Observances are held from community to county, state and national levels, with many student art exhibitions planned. An annual event on the national level is "School Flags Across the U.S. Flying High," a student flag design competition. A theme is selected that is representative of the individual state, a design is selected and then made into a flag. The first week in March an opening ceremony is held in Washington, D.C., and flags are flown there in a place of prominence for the remainder of the month. To find out what is happening in your state, contact your state's YAM chairperson at the Council for Art Education, P. O. Box 479, Hanson, MA 02341-0479; 781-293-4100; sarahs@acminet.org. National Craft MonthNo matter your age or skill level, crafting is an enjoyable activity that continues to grow in popularity. For children, it builds self-esteem and learning skills and is emotionally pleasing, not to mention fun. The Craft and Hobby Association has dedicated the month of March as National Craft Month in celebration. Craft retailers around the country will offer special classes, demonstrations, tips and projects to get customers involved. Many stores will have a new craft theme each week that highlights a different crafting category. National Craft Month will culminate on March 26th with a one-day happening entitled "Look! I Made it Myself A Kid's Craft Day." Retailers nationwide will offer a variety of fun-filled craft activities to introduce kids to the joys of crafting. You'll want to take advantage of this fun-filled opportunity and celebrate the "art" of crafting!
Pencil Drawing On Many LevelsThere are many degrees of perfection in the execution of pencil drawings. Some of the most interesting and dynamic are those drawings that are created with bold, impressionistic strokes, with strong lights and darks and with lots of movement. Detailed drawings that appear so real and lifelike that they seem to replicate a photograph catch everyone's eye and engage the viewer on several levels. Between these two styles are many others with implied reality, softened reality and some sketches that are just plain fun. The materials needed to create each of these styles vary slightly, but all are available through local art material dealers. Papers selected for your works can also help create a special element in the drawing. Smooth papers impart no surface interruptions, while chunky or rough papers actually alter the application of the graphite and provide instant texture. Between smooth and chunky are dozens of wonderful fibrous and slightly irregular surfaces that are fun to use. Colored papers in blacks, dark earth tones, rich jewel shades and everything you could imagine-- all the way to bright white and soft creams--give the graphite artist a huge variety of substrates upon which to draw. Specialty textures like suede papers, sand and other organics and thin metallic sheets round out the selection and give the artist new opportunities to expand his or her style. Graphite sticks are square or rectangle shapes that come in lengths of about four inches. These sticks of pure color also come in a nice range of hardness and offer the artist with bold expressions a quality product that lays down color in wide swatches of tone. Super darks to soft lights can easily be accomplished with graphite sticks. Quick studies on newsprint with a nice tooth will yield great study work. More refined drawings on rag drawing paper or perhaps a cold press watercolor sheet will be exquisite. Drawing pencils in an even wider range of softness (darks) and hardness (lights) make more precise drawings a delight. When you learn to use the right tone for the job at hand, you will see that you create a more realistic image. Dark tones can be laid on to indicate deep shadows and softened into areas that have more light. Retaining the white of the paper for your lightest tones can be difficult. Erasers from a variety of types can help you clean away smudges or soften darks to give a more pleasing gradation of tone or to create a sharp light area. Kneaded erasers are some artists' mainstay when it comes to cleaning away excess graphite. They love the flexibility and shaping characteristics of a kneaded eraser. Other artists like MagicRub or gum erasers. Each has the ability to decrease the potency of pencil lines or graphite stick swatches. One will work well for you at one time, and then another will be what you need for another duty. Always carry one or more in your supplies. Softening a graphite line drawing is often desired. One way to soften the drawing is by lightly rubbing it with a piece of chamois or soft cloth. This will actually smear the drawing so caution should be exercised, but the end result will be a less sharp-edged, more even-toned work. Try some exercises with different degrees of hardness in graphite stick lines and drawing pencil lines to see which can yield the look you want. Methods of graphite application include direct line drawing where single lines define the shape. Or shadowed, dimensional techniques can be used to give the subject shape and depth. Different techniques such as crosshatching can be used to add a deep degree of shadow to a shape. Crosshatching is the overlaying in opposing directions of graphite lines. Sticks, pencils or any other type of graphite can be used to make crosshatch lines. Practice gradation exercises by attempting to bring a series of squares from stark light to deepest dark. Another exercise that is helpful is to devise different application techniques that simulate crosshatch to build darker and darker tones. This will help you define the shadow and depth of your subject matter. Select a variety of paper textures, heavy to light, and experiment with the results. Different paper, different graphite and smoothing techniques can help you bring your work to a new level. Try outdoor sketching, and then return home to do a series of ever-increasing detailed drawings. The experience will be worth the time. Or take a very detailed drawing and redesign it by eliminating detail. Make it more and more simplified until you have the essence of your original subject. Either exercise can be a window into a new style. Pencil drawings can also be augmented with bits of found materials such as metallic paper, a small section of paint, perhaps a piece of ad art to bring emphasis to your texture, color or subject matter. Drawing is one of the most transportable and inexpensive media for all levels of skill. Have fun and never leave home without your pencil and paper/sketchbook! For all your drawing needs, see your retailer and visit www.generalpencil.com. General Pencil Co. is the manufacturer of General's charcoal, layout and flat sketching pencils; Kimberly drawing pencils; MultiChrome coloring pencils; ColorTex colored pencils; Pastel Chalk pencils; Willow charcoal and more. You can also select fine art sets, drawing kits and books, erasers and more from General.
Call for Entries/Proposals from Chesterwood"Contemporary Sculpture at Chesterwood 2005," celebrating Chesterwood's 50th Anniversary, will be held June 24 through October 10. Artists are invited to submit examples of recent sculpture for preliminary review by the guest curator, Donna Hassler, for the 26th exhibition of outdoor sculpture. Up to ten sculptures or proposals may be submitted and art should be no more than four years old at the time of its exhibition. Application deadline is April 15. For further info: 413.298.3579, Ext. 210; email Chesterwood@NTHP.org. Download info/application form at www.chesterwood.org. Chesterwood, located in Stockbridge, MA, is the home/studio of renowned sculptor Daniel Chester French (1850-1931) and is a National Trust Historic Site.
Artist Profile
Diane Arbus, born Diane Nemerov in New York City on March 14, 1923, is considered one of the pioneers of a "new" documentary photography style, displaying everyday life and people in what is considered a ruthless and unrelenting manner. Of her work she said, "What I'm trying to describe is that it's impossible to get out of your skin into somebody else's. That somebody else's tragedy is not the same as your own." Many of her human subjects were physically unusual and about that she said, "Most people go through life dreading they'll have a traumatic experience. (These people) were born with their trauma. They've already passed their test in life. They're aristocrats." Diane Arbus was raised with all the privileges of wealth and had lived in an environment of richness (Central Park West), attending the best progressive schools in New York. (Among her classmates was photo-historian Naomi Rosenblum.) Despite her life of privilege, her brother, poet Howard Nemerov, who was well known in the world of writing, overshadowed Diane. Diane rejected the safety and security of her comfortable upbringing. At 14 years of age, she fell in love with Allan Arbus, who at the time was 19. Despite her parent's objections, she continued the love affair until her 18th birthday. Days later, the couple were married. To fulfill his military obligation, Allan Arbus was a photographer with the New Jersey Signal Corps and attended photo school. At night he would come home and tell Diane what he had learned, and like many beginners in photography, they set up a darkroom in their bathroom. After the war ended, Allan and Diane started a business together as fashion photographers--Allan was the photographer and Diane acted as stylist. She soon garnered a reputation for being one of the best in the business. Allan was unwilling to let Diane develop her own recognition by taking her own photographs, he being of the school that believed women should be wives, raise children and support their husbands. Diane began to develop her style and take her own photos only after her marriage to Allan began to disintegrate. She needed to find a way to support herself and the children. By 1958 she was seriously pursuing her career and began her series of portraits of people on the fringes of society. It is these photographs for which Diane Arbus is most remembered. She always printed her images in full frame, often with messy edges to emphasize the fact that the images were not cropped. Arbus interacted with her subjects to achieve a unique closeness, something not done by any of her contemporaries. She documented the "freaks" or forgotten persons, those ignored by most and often with a bleakness and realism that was frightening. Her empathy gave her access to the usually unapproachable: transvestites, dwarves, prostitutes, nudists and the everyday ugly. "I work from awkwardness. By that I mean I don't like to arrange things." This is evidenced by the images of common items in common settings that seem surreal. She was a pioneer in the use of flash, choosing to photograph subjects where she found them...bars, on the streets or in clubs. Her technique used flash to discretely separate subjects from their backgrounds. It is now a standard of press photographers. Throughout her career as photographer for magazines, fashion and ending with art photography, Diane Arbus used her unique view of people and their surroundings. She chose as her instrument a square medium format camera rather than one that is held to the eye. This allowed a casual observation of the subject, perhaps even during conversation, and the ability to select the very second when the subject revealed a moment when he or she looked somehow different or peculiar. She used a type of post-modern strategy of placing subjects central to the format, ignoring the rules of the time. "There's a kind of rightness and wrongness and sometimes I like rightness and sometimes I like wrongness," Arbus said, and "I don't know what good composition is...sometimes for me composition has to do with a certain brightness or a certain coming to restness." And so it was with Diane Arbus. Despite the intimacy and cooperation she attained with her subjects, despite the success and recognition she had and the fact that her work was in demand, she suffered from deteriorating mental health. And on July 26, 1971 she took her own life at age 48--a tragic end to a gifted and respected photographic artist. Just one year prior to her death, Arbus had brought out her first limited edition of 10 pictures. She had been in three major museum group shows including one at the Museum of Modern Art's influential exhibition about the "new social landscape" of the 1960's. Arbus was the first U.S. photographer to be shown at the Venice Biennale (one year after her death) and was considered by critics to be one of the most influential American photographers of the late 20th century. Diane Arbus Revelations opens March 8 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City through May 30. This retrospective exhibition presents the artist's signature images as well as previously unpublished photographs and writings drawn from the artist's archive. The exhibition travels to overseas locations and then to the Walker Art Center (MN) in July 2006. Also see Diane Arbus: Family Albums at the Portland Art Museum (OR) through April 24. The exhibition travels to the Georgia Museum of Art (Athens); Reynolda House, Museum of American Art, Winston-Salem, NC; and Naples Museum of Art (FL).
The Artist's Marketplace
The hot new GLOBOX Light Box from Artograph has received the Creative Home Arts Member Tested Seal of Approval. Creative Home Arts Club members gave the GLOBOX a 94% approval rating with high marks across the board of test criteria, including quality, design, performance, appearance, ease of use, innovative features and uniqueness. Perfect for crafters on the go, it features a conveniently slanted 5" x 9" tracing surface and long-life fluorescent lamp for hours of use with either the AC adapter or optional battery operation. A unique multi-purpose palette and storage compartment keep your crafting tools right at your fingertips. The GLOBOX is a fast and easy way to trace designs, patterns, stencils, photos, and lettering for creating custom cards, embossing, stenciling, scrapbooking, cartooning and calligraphy. Recommended for ages 12 and up, the light box has a 5-year warranty. Visit www.artograph.com to see their full line of opaque art projectors, light boxes and spray booths, and see your retailer. New Stampbord and Decorbord from Ampersand
New Mixed Media Sourcebook from Watson-Guptill
Award-winning artist Sean Dye, also the author of Painting with Water-Soluble Oils (North Light Books), is scheduled to teach a two-day intensive workshop, "Mixed Media," at ARTtalk.com's "Art in the Adirondacks" on June 4-5. See www.arttalk.com/workshop/workshop.htm for further info.
Fabric
Even though there are thousands of fabrics available and very original ways to use them, many artists have come to the decision to create their own unique fabrics. Dyeing and designing fabrics affords them a limitless spectrum of possibilities for originality in their work. There are dozens of ways to dye, decorate or design fabrics, using materials readily available at art material centers. For the creative mind that is less interested in deep study of fabric dyeing and manipulation, there are fast-track ways to design fabrics. These methods give exquisite results and do not take deep research or long-term involvement. Some of those fabric manipulation techniques are: resist dyeing, crayon batik, discharge "dyeing" and topical, artistic applications of dyes. These quick methods might just entice you to try more involved processes and create even more interesting fabrics to complete a variety of projects. Fastest of all methods is direct brush on of dye. This can lend itself to both an artistic end result and a low threshold of time involvement. Begin with freshly washed, dried and pressed fabric in any size you wish. Of course, a number of smaller projects might be a great beginning so that you can see results quickly and try different application ideas. Wide strokes with diluted dye, overlaid with fine detail brushwork can create a neat crackled or antique appearance. Applying dye with wide brushes onto slightly dampened fabric will yield a watercolor effect. After this layer is dry you can apply more colors as a topical decoration. At this point you might want to use bold rubber stamps or stencils to create a layer-on-layer look - very hot and very easy. For those wanting to create a near-batik look, you can melt crayons in small tins. (Clean tuna or small sliced olive cans work very well.) Break bold colored crayons into individual tins. Set the tins in an electric skillet with about « inch of water in the bottom. Bring up the heat slowly to about 260 degrees. You can remove the tins and use the colors until they start to cool, and then return them to the pan to re-liquefy. Dedicate specific craft brushes or art brushes to this type of work because the wax is very difficult to remove. Use the liquid colors to "paint" a design onto cotton or other natural fabric. When the painting is completed, allow the piece to cool and dry completely. Dip it in a solid color dye to create the background color. In the process, tiny cracks will occur in the areas you painted and the dye will seep into them. The end result is a delightfully easy and beautiful fabric treatment that mimics batik. Once the dye is dry, iron the wax from the fabric with any household iron protected with several layers of paper beneath and above the fabric. It may take several attempts to work most of the wax out, but it is worth the time and effort. Display the treasure with a frame and matting or by making a pocket at the top and hanging the fabric from a dowel. Another type of resist dyeing can be done with a number of unusual items: duct tape, heavy contact paper - sticky backed vinyl--virtually any sticky material can be used. Cut the "resist" into the desired shape and adhere it to the front surface of a clean, ironed fabric. Sponge dye onto the fabric as if you are creating a faux finish on the wall. Use a small amount of the dye liquid so that you can build up layer upon layer over the resist design. Very intricate and special fabrics can be created this way. If you move the sticky-backed design after the first application of color and apply a second color, you will create an especially interesting textural effect. Melted wax can also be spattered onto the surface of fabric by flinging it from a paintbrush. Discharge dyeing is the opposite of what one usually thinks of when considering cotton fabric embellishment. Discharge actually removes color rather than adding it. Remember to wear rubber utility gloves, long sleeves and long pants plus eye protection (preferably goggles). On clean fabric, lightly draw some large, open geometric shapes. Use a needle and thread in a running stitch to gather up the fabric in the shapes you drew. Holding the stitched, drawn-up shapes, tie the ends of the thread. Dip the entire piece into the discharge bath (discharge with equal amounts of household chlorine bleach carefully poured into water; it may require more bleach or less, and trials will tell you the best solution for your work.) Allow it to remain for about 2 to 5 minutes with gentle agitation and then remove and rinse in clean water. Rinse in a second water bath, then soak in a dilute vinegar solution (half white vinegar, half water) to stop the discharge process. Rinse, then put the piece through a wash cycle in a washing machine. Release the stitches and press dry. Voila! All of these methods are fast and easy and give great results. They can also be combined to make truly original and desirable fabrics for your projects: pillow fronts, vests, quilts, small framed pieced designs, T-shirts, cotton sleepwear and lingerie, etc. The list is endless. Give one a try and you'll be hooked.
The 18th annual Art in Bloom, New Orleans' most intriguing celebration of art and flowers, will blossom from March 17-20. Presented by the New Orleans Museum of Art and The Garden Study Club of New Orleans, the program celebrates nature and the elements with the theme Earth, Wind and Fire, and will be highlighted by the exhibition 5,000 Years of Chinese Ceramics: The Robin and R. Randolph Richmond Collection. Call 504.483.2316. The Society of Arts and Crafts will present CRAFTBOSTON 2005 from April 1-3 at the Seaport World Trade Center. New England's premier show for the exhibition and sale of contemporary craft will showcase one-of-a-kind and limited edition pieces in baskets, ceramics, decorative fiber, wearables, furniture, glass, jewelry, leather, metal, mixed media, paper and wood by 175 of the world's finest craft artists. Work by emerging artists from leading schools and universities will also be featured. Call 617.266.1810 or visit www.craftboston.org. The 23rd Annual Smithsonian Craft Show will be held April 14-17 at the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C. In 120 booths, 44 talented first-time exhibitors will join returning master artists to display their imaginative, functional and sculptural craft in 12 media. This show will celebrate the opening of the National Museum of the American Indian on the Mall during its Preview Gala on April 13 and with an article in its program. Call 202.357.4000 or 888.832.9554; craftshow@si.edu. The first annual Chicago Contemporary & Classic will be held April 29 May 2 in Navy Pier's Festival Hall. By showcasing approximately 140 galleries featuring modern and contemporary art with nearly 60 dealers of European and American furniture and decorative arts, collectors will discover an unparalleled selection across a wide range of periods and styles. Call 800.571.6113; ccc@pfpublish.com.
"Instant" Airbrush Art/EnhancementAirbrushing through or around any object will leave an exact image. For example if you spray through lace, the design will be instantly replicated on the surface. In the field of airbrushing, special templates have been designed for a multitude of uses. These are usually cut with a laser, which results in an exact shape or design. Airbrush templates are transparent to aid with registration and can be used wherever a stencil is required: illustration, acrylic painting on canvas, across a ceramic pot, on a motorcycle tank or helmet, skateboard or snowboard; or, in its smallest form, on a fingernail. Templates are usually not self-adhering. If you desire to create a soft edge, just raise the template slightly. However, they can be coated with spray adhesive to hold them securely when a hard edge is desired. If you use this method, be sure to remove the adhesive when finished so that the templates don't stick together or collect dust and become unusable. Some artist's work on a sheet of steel as their drawing board and use magnets to hold templates in place. Or you can work flat on a table and set weights on the templates to prevent movement from the force of the spray. The tighter the template is held to the surface, the sharper the edge and the more exact the image will be. When working with heavy paints such as artist acrylics or paints that are slow drying, be cautious of bleed that will occur underneath the template if it is not secured tightly to the surface. Artool Freehand Airbrush Templates are predominant in the field. They are made from space-age polymer thin enough so the edge does not distort the spray, yet highly durable so that they can be reused over and over. The flexible material is solvent-proof so you can use water-based or solvent-based paints/cleaners. The templates can be easily flexed or curved around irregular shaped surfaces. Delineate shapes by matching the contours of the templates with the subject matter. Simply rotate or flip-flop the templates to find the shape that works best. Artool Freehand Airbrush Templates include "The Essential Seven" for creating spontaneous airbrush effects; "Flame Master;" "Pin-Up Shield;" The Wave Maker'" "The Angle Master" for creating quick and clean angles without the use of a protractor; "Match Makers" that are four separate interlocking positive and negative shapes ideal for airbrushing hair, smoke, foliage and other unique effects; "The Master Series" that is a set of universal shields that will respond to any combination required; and Craig Fraser's popular line of skulls, flames and supersonic special effects, including the new "Kustom FXII." Visit your retailer and see www.artoolproducts.com for the full product line that also includes FrisketFilm, Artmask, Stretchmask, Hobby Mask, Cutting Mats, Hot Matz, the Artist Bridge, the Cutting Rail and more. Excitement fills the room in a basic airbrush class when a beginning student masters triggering and sees the result of airbrushing with the unique and fun Artool templates. Voila! An image instantly appears. The possibilities are endless!
Treasures to Tour--The Los Angeles County Museum of Art, CA, will be the first U.S. venue for a 27-month national tour of "Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs." Scheduled to open June 16, the exhibit will include 50 major objects excavated from King Tut's tomb, as well as more than 70 objects from other royal graves of the 18th Dynasty. Tickets are now on sale to the general public; visit www.KingTut.org. Travels to Museum of Art, Ft. Lauderdale, FL, in December and The Field Museum, Chicago, IL, in May 2006. NEA News--The FY 2006 Grants for Arts Projects guidelines are available online at www.arts.gov/grants/apply/index.html. Grants for Arts Projects represents the primary funding opportunity for organizations and deadlines vary. Auction Records Set--A painting by Jean-Baptiste Santerre set a new auction record recently at Doyle New York. The double portrait of The Duc d'Orleans and his mistress as Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden was executed circa 1716. And at the annual "Dogs in Art" auction that coincides with the Westminster Kennel Club dog show, a world auction record was set for "Poker Dogs" artist Cassius Coolidge. Spring Arrives!--Four spring flowers--an iris, a hyacinth, a daffodil and a tulip--painted by Massachusetts artist Christopher Pullman are featured on four definitive stamps tentatively scheduled for issue on March 15th in booklet form. The watercolor paintings are based on photos of blossoms purchased at a Boston flower market and images found in garden catalogs.
Exhibitions: New York, NY -- Metropolitan Museum of Art -- Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640): The Drawings brings together 115 of the finest and most representative drawings from European and American public and private collections by the great Flemish artist. Through April 3. New York, NY -- American Craft Museum -- Ruth Duckworth, Modernist Sculptor is the first comprehensive retrospective of this important artist, known for her works in ceramic, bronze and stone. Featured are about 80 works, including freestanding sculpture and sculptural vessels from her early years in Britain and mid to late career works produced in the U.S. Through April 3. Columbus, OH--Ohio State University, Wexner Center Galleries -- Landscape Confection features nearly 50 imagined landscapes portrayed in stitched fabric, beads, wax, metal, silk flowers and other materials by 13 emerging and mid-career artists from around the globe that embrace the idea of the decorative. Through May 1. Travels to Contemporary Arts Museum-Houston and the Orange County Museum of Art-LA. Phoenix, AZ - Phoenix Art Museum -- In Monet's Light: Theodore Robinson at Giverny features over 55 paintings, watercolors, drawings and photographs by Robinson, the American artist who brought Impressionism to the U.S., and a small number of stunning landscapes by his friend, Claude Monet. Through May 8. NOTE: The Sedona Arts Center will present an "In Monet's Light" Lecture/Slide Show and Reception on March 10 from 5 to 6 p.m. In addition, a bus trip is being scheduled to view the exhibition on March 22. Call 928.282.3809. Philadelphia, PA -- Philadelphia Museum of Art -- Salvador Dali embraces every aspect of his creative life as painter, writer, object-maker, designer of ballets and exhibitions, filmmaker, theorist and publicist. Included are more than 200 works, placing the artist's famous surrealist canvases of the '20s and '30s in context with his early and later work and reassessing his position in modern art. Through May 15. Washington, DC -- The Textile Museum -- Beyond the Bag: Textiles as Containers celebrates the use of textiles as utilitarian containers and gives visitors an opportunity to investigate the many ways various cultures have exploited the unique properties of textile containers to suit their needs. Through June 5.
Copyright ARTtalk Vol. 15 No. 5 -- March 2005 |
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Seal of Approval for Artograph's New GLOBOX
Stampbord is a new stamping surface developed by Ampersand Art Supply that allows clean, perfect impressions every time. It is correctable and erasable and is great for jewelry, custom boxes, magnets, altered books, scrapbooking and more! The ultra smooth clay finish is an ideal stamping surface that accepts all traditional stamping colors including dye-based and pigment inks. The surface allows for perfect, clean impressions as well as color application without runs; the material will never buckle. A unique aspect is that the stamper can scratch back into the clay surface to apply details and textures to the design. And if you don't like what you've stamped in a given area, just sand it off the board with oil-free steel wool without affecting the integrity of the surface. Stampbord is available in a wide variety of formats--Stamp Paks of small rectangle and square sizes, assorted bags of Mini-Bords and in nifty Box Kits. Also choose from a variety of tools and colored inks for use with Stampbord.
Decorbord Blocks and Shadow Boxes are primed with a beautiful surface that allows you to easily add color. Use a roller to paint color on evenly and effortlessly. Leave plain or stencil/stamp designs to add personal touches and accents. You can also collage pictures, papers or fabrics to the painted background. Paint or decorate the Shadow Box and use it to elegantly display a special keepsake, or put candles inside several painted boxes for a contemporary display. Use your imagination for varied and unique home decorating projects using Decorbord Blocks and Shadow Boxes, available in a variety of sizes. Visit
Whether you want to do mixed media as a way to investigate new materials, to reinvigorate a familiar medium or technique, or to totally reinvent your existing artistic style or vision, The Mixed Media Sourcebook by Sean Dye provides comprehensive, practical guidelines. The book begins with a brief historical overview of how and why different mediums and supports have been mixed. Subsequent chapters explain the origin, composition and physical characteristics of today's most popular mediums and art techniques--drawing mediums, pastel (soft and oil), oil color (including water-soluble oils), watercolor, gouache, acrylic, casein and egg tempera, encaustic, and printmaking.