Painting means something different to each person who holds the brush. Painting can be a way to express one’s deepest thoughts and feelings. Painting can also be a way to educate people. Painting is so versatile as a method of transmitting a message that it is sometimes used as a revolutionary communique to effect change in a government or a particular situation. Or, it can be as simple as a show of love and affection for the environment. Natalia’s Paintings exemplifies a child’s passion for painting and love for natural life and the environment. Painting is such a profound art and so flexible as a means of communication that anybody, literally anybody, can choose and learn to be a painter at one point in their life.
Painting Through the Ages
Art is primarily used as a form of communication. Painting is one of the oldest forms of artwork, if not THE oldest among all art forms. People, by nature, are visual learners. By birth, an infant adapts and learns from the shapes and colors their eyes perceive, even no matter how blurry and unclear it comes to them at first. Over time, as the infant progresses into adulthood, their visual perceptions become the source of translation for the meaning of the words they started to learn. Imageries and colors play a significant role in a person’s development. And painting is a perfect example of art with all those components: image and color.
Painting also plays an essential role in understanding history. It is an art form that gives an understanding of how the human mind processes and works throughout time. As early as the stone age civilization, way before letters and words were formed, images were depicted on cave walls drawn by early cave dwellers. Cavemen have “painted” these colorful images of the surroundings that they perceived around them. From early forms of animals, plants, volcanoes, water forms, and even figures of what presumed to be their fellow dwellers, cave dwellers painted these images on their walls as a means of conveying their intention, telling stories, entertaining, or even as an unconscious effort to record events.
Fast forward to eons of centuries, the early Egyptians were very fond of painting as a way to preserve posterity and convey life messages, whether for the living person or the dead, in their journey in the afterlife. The more vivid and colorful the walls of the pyramid are painted, the more it tells that the person who is buried within those walls is somebody who is very important. Even face painting is popular in Egyptian culture as a symbol of status and beauty.
The Egyptians also started the trend of self-portrait painting. The early Greek and Roman civilization are also painting enthusiasts. Both civilizations are also big on paintings, whether it’s paintings on a vase, plates, bowls, even on sculptures and columns. Not to mention self-portrait painting as well. These painting traditions have been carried over through centuries and generations, evolving into several different styles such as Impressionism, Surrealism, Modernism, Abstract, and many more.
Painting is an expressed form of art and the earliest art form as self-expression. Preceding oral and written language, people who cannot express their thoughts and feelings into words turn to paint as another way of relaying their message. For instance, a painter who has a deep love for nature would naturally incorporate the environment in their paintings. A politically passionate and motivated painter tends to use Impressionism as their style of painting to depict their emotions or passions. A painter who has deep angst in life would often go for an abstract portrayal of their emotions.
Painting is also used as a form of therapy. Since it is also a form of self-expression, the routine itself of holding a brush, choosing colors, and coming up with images promotes a sense of calmness that helps even the most anxious and depressed person. Not only is painting a form of stress relief, but it also boosts a person’s creativity by working out the artist’s imagination of coming up with pictures to paint. Painting also improves motor skills through the hand coordination techniques applied when painting and helps strengthen a person’s memory as they reproduce their reactions and emotions to their environment through their artwork.
As a form of art, painting can be very personal to the painter. Or, it could be done as a form of profession. Even so, the artist always has a part of themselves embedded into their artwork, whether it’s a commissioned work or not. Nevertheless, anyone can be a painter. It’s simply a matter of picking up that paintbrush and starting filling up that canvas according to what the heart dictates.
Alex Writes 