According to the technique and means of execution, painting is divided into oil, tempera, fresco, wax, mosaic, stained glass, watercolor, gouache, pastel. These names are derived from the binder or from the way the material and technical means are applied.

Oil painting is done with paint rubbed on vegetable oils. Thick paint liquefies when oil or special thinners and varnishes are added to it. Oil paint can be used on canvas, wood, cardboard, paper and metal.

Tempera paint is made with paint prepared on egg yolk or casein. Tempera paint is dissolved with water and applied pastosely or fluidly to a wall, canvas, paper or wood. Tempera was used in Russia for wall paintings, icons and patterns on everyday objects. Nowadays tempera is used in painting and graphics, in arts and crafts and in decoration.

Fresco painting decorates interiors in the form of monumental and decorative compositions, applied on wet plaster with water paints. The fresco has a pleasant matte surface and is durable in an enclosed environment.

Wax painting (encaustic) was used even by artists of Ancient Egypt, as evidenced by the famous “fayum portraits” (I century AD). Binder in encaustic painting is bleached wax. Wax colors are applied in a molten state on a heated base, and then burned.

Mosaic painting, or mosaic, is made up of individual pieces of smalt or colored stones and mounted on a special cement ground. Transparent smalt inserted into the ground at different angles reflects or refracts light, causing flashes and shimmers of color. Mosaic panels can be found in subways, theater and museum interiors, etc. Stained-glass window-painting is a work of decorative art intended for decorating window openings in an architectural structure. Stained-glass windows are made of colored glass pieces fastened together with a strong metal frame. A stream of light, penetrating the colored surface of the stained glass window, draws decorative, multicolored patterns on the floor and walls of the interior.

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