Art Terms in Action: Stain
About this video
A stain is made by thinning paint with lots of solvent (turpentine for oil paint) until it is very watery and dilute. Because it is so thin, the colour is reduced and the paint can soak into the canvas itself. Rothko layered stain over stain so viewers see through thin washes of paint.
You'll be able to
- explain how a painter makes a stain.
- describe why a stain soaks into the canvas rather than sitting on top.
- explain how Rothko used layered stains in his paintings.
Key words
- stain
- Paint thinned with a lot of solvent so it becomes watery and soaks into the canvas.
- solvent
- A liquid, such as turpentine for oil paint, used to thin paint.
- dilute
- Made weaker and thinner by adding liquid.
- wash
- A very thin, see-through layer of watery paint.
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.
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