In painting, "medium" refers to both the type of paint and an amendment to alter the properties of paint. A painter can mix a medium with solvents, wax, pigments and other substances in order to make paint and control consistency. Often the term "paint medium" refers to the fluid that carries pigments, but this is more properly called called a "vehicle," which is typically composed of a solid binder and a solvent. An example of an artist paint vehicle is watercolor, where gum arabic is the binder and water the solvent.

In recent years, we have witnessed an increased interest among artists about historical painting techniques and materials. Why this trend is occurring is subject to much speculation, but some may say it is due to the revival in figurative art. I would prefer to say that interest in figurative art never really died out, but rather it has survived abstract art. An important part of this interest in materials is a concern for the longevity of the paintings created by contemporary artists, a care observed by the old masters in their work.

Lead sulfate (British spelling, sulphate), formed the basis of a number of white pigments that were made on a large scale in the 19th and 20th centuries and sold under a variety of names, such as "Patent White Lead," "Non-poisonous White Lead," "Sublimed White Lead," etc. Some of these pigments did not consist entirely of lead sulfate but contained other minerals, such as zinc oxide, barite (barium sulfate), magnesia (magnesium carbonate), etc., in varying quantities.

A comparison of grounds for egg tempera by artist, Koo Schadler. She compares seven different grounds based on six criteria she developed for egg tempera painting. Read this article to see how they measure up.

Support Induced Discoloration (SID) occurs when paint changes color due to pulling up water-soluble substances from the substrate. As the paint dries these particles remain in the paint, discoloring it. Read how to avoid discoloration of paint on wood supports.

It’s not possible to physically blend egg tempera paint once it’s been applied because reworking fresh paint dissolves and lifts underlying layers. Thus whatever tool is used to apply egg tempera leaves behind its mark: A brushstroke stays visibly a brushstroke, sponged on paint carries the imprint of the sponge. This “mark making” tendency means egg tempera is ideal for rendering fine details, crisp textural effects, and other linear elements. The challenge in tempera is to create smooth, mark-free transitions.

Tempera is a method of painting with pigments dispersed in a binder that is miscible with water. Although the term is typically associated with egg yolk as the binder, it is also applied to paints made with casein, gum or animal collagen (hide glue). The method was known from the classical world, and was the principal medium used for panel painting and illuminated manuscripts in the Byzantine world and Medieval and Early Renaissance Europe. This article examines the type of supports used today for tempera and the best practice of preparing them for tempera painting using a new ground, Tempera Ground, made by Natural Pigments.

Teresa Oaxaca has been making use of transparent pigments for about a year and a half now and a blog post of this nature has been on her to do list ever since. Seldom very popular (unless the paint tube is labeled the ever famous "transparent oxide yellow"), little known and less understood, most people question why someone would want to go to the trouble of producing let alone painting with a weak pigment. In the age of cadmiums and and other bright hi-keyed pigments, earth colors have at turns come into question. Why not mix down? Why settle for a lower chroma?

It is an old saying that rules are meant to be broken. No one did this more successfully than Rembrandt. For instance, the rich red in the table cloth in the Syndics is obtained by glazing a translucent red over brown, instead of over a brighter red. Rules are meant to be broken, but it is necessary to know first what the rules are. Read more about these painting rules.

For over a hundred years, most of the causes of cracking have been explored: humidity and temperature, expansion and contraction, stress, and paint embrittlement. The symptoms were obvious—cracking and paint loss—but the causes were not clearly understood. In 1982, Marion Mecklenburg and other scientists at the Smithsonian Institute, reported the first systematic explanation of painting mechanics, and especially that of canvas paintings