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I imagine just about any artist could tell you that the first medium they worked in was crayon or tempera paint and they would be accurate. Remember finger painting? How much fun was that? I remember giant rolls of newsprint spread on the floor of a classroom with groups of children assigned to a spot hoping to make a cohesive mural for parents' night at the school. I loved getting my fingers all gooey with paint!

Most of us graduated to other media and if we pursued art as a career or as a serious part-time artist, we experimented with a variety of media and landed on something we loved. There probably exists, however, in the non-schooled art lover and buyer, some confusion (or at least curiosity) about the various mediums available for purchase, not to mention whether "media" or "mediums" is the plural of the word "medium." That question has vexed me for years. I know I've been corrected more than once in my life for using "mediums" instead of "media" as the plural but, as language has tended to become more elastic, it is now acceptable to use either word, but only if you are referring to materials used to create art. In the science or communication world, however, media is the preferred plural. But if you're talking about a psychic, the word "medium" is the only accurate one.

If you're confused now, just wait until we begin exploring the various mediums available to artists. We are all probably familiar with oil, watercolor, and acrylic paints. Easy enough. But then you throw in pastels. Oil pastels or soft or hard pastels? Pastel pencils, sticks or pans? Go to an art supply website and you'll be scratching your head before long.You'll come across the curious word "gouache." How do you even SAY it? Gouache, pronounced "gwaash" is similar to watercolor paint but is more opaque. It is pigment mixed with gum Arabic or other binders in addition to chalk or white to give it a more opaque, chalky (but still bright) finish. Gouache is also one of the oldest used art mediums, by the way, and it cleans up with water just like watercolor. To complicate art media even further, you can pick from heavy body acrylic or liquid acrylic (and anything in between). You might try your hand at scratchboard or alcohol ink. There are multitudes of markers available with different tips and properties along with watercolor pencils, charcoal pencils and sticks, and craft paints you sprinkle on a surface and spray with water. To make all of this worse, when you paint with acrylics or oils, you usually need to add a "medium" to the paint to make it dry faster or slower or dry with a certain quality you especially like. And I haven't even scratched the surface.

For the purposes of this blog and to keep confusion at a manageable minimum, I am not going to delve into the dozens and dozens of different media that have been and are being used in the 21st century as artists explore ancient mediums or push the envelope by inventing new art forms. I will focus primarily on the most common media you'll find at Gallery Moab (paint, pastels, pencils, and clay) and spare you a dissertation on carving, casting, glass, paper, collage, found objects, photography, film/video, printmaking, silver, gold, and glass, and the myriad of textile arts including fabric, yarn, thread, and any combination of any of these also known as mixed media.

You might ask: how enduring is your preferred art form? This is an easy question to answer. Simply look around and the art that was created centuries ago yet still exists to enjoy: marble, granite, wood and oil paint are examples of art that stands the test of time. We will have to wait hundreds of years to determine the longevity of acrylics and water-based oils. On the other hand, pastels, if cared for, will last through many lifetimes. There are examples in museums of pastel paintings that are as bright as the day they were painted. The same is true for watercolors if they are painted using good pigments on acid-free paper and are not exposed to environmental hazards such as excessive sunlight or moisture. It's all about the care given to your painting as well as preventative measures the artist took to protect them.Poor quality paints or inappropriate storage or hanging will definitely impact the lifespan of a painting.

So, given its longevity, is an oil painting worth more than a watercolor painting? Some collectors or galleries will insist that oil paintings are more valuable than watercolors or other media. There are even some galleries that will not accept anything but oil paintings. Oil paintings do tend to command a higher sale price and do stand the test of time, but ultimately, a painting's value is, like beauty, in the eyes of the beholder. Unless you are exclusively a collector and buying for an investment, you typically buy a painting because you love it and want it in your home. Something about the art speaks to you. It makes no matter if it is oil, pastel, watercolor or clay.

Each artist that you encounter has chosen his or her medium for their own personal reason. For example, I started working in pastels over 20 years ago, but while temporarily living on Kodiak Island in Alaska, I could not get the chalky medium to capture the wet, watery landscapes and seascapes I was trying to create. I switched to watercolor and while I still use my pastels, I've pretty much stuck to watercolor. I do miss moving the pastel around with my fingers, smudging it and creating texture with nothing more than the pigment and my fingers. I think it probably takes me back to the days of finger painting!

Victoria Fugit, a brilliant pastel artist who lost her battle with cancer just a month ago, wrote this about her medium: "I paint in pastel because it is extremely permanent. If applied over a durable, acid-free surface, a pastel painting will remain fresh and virtually unchanged for several hundred years. I also chose that medium because it is so versatile. It offers an astonishing range of expression." Victoria also preferred pastels because the artist works right with the medium; there's no brush between the artist and the work. Finally, Victoria wrote: "Most important, it's delicious. Pastel artists often refer to it as a "seductive" medium. It vibrates, it refracts; it does not stop with just reflecting light. The microscopic flecks of pigment act like prisms; they bounce in a hundred directions at once."

Winter Sunlight by Victoria Fugit

Peggy Harty, another Gallery Moab pastel artist, loves pastel because "to me, it is very forgiving. Like oil paints, you can layer them going from dark to light. It is to fun to throw those highlights in as you reach the finishing stage."

Claret Cup Cactus by Peggy Hart

Deborah McDermott, a printmaker and painter at the Gallery offers a different perspective: I use two different mediums to "say" different things. The two are printmaking, specifically linocut, a form of relief printing, and painting with acrylics. Right now, I don't favor one over another. They require completely different ways of thinking, seeing, and working which, keeps me in a constant state of trying to "get there. Feeling that I've discovered new personal territory that keeps presenting a path forward is my main goal." 

Habitation by Deborah McDermott

Casual Arrangement by Deborah McDermott

And for some, their preferred medium was a first love. "I have always loved working in oils," says Carolyn Tibbetts. "I was introduced to them at a young age and fell in love with them. I love the vibrancy of colors and being able to mix the exact color I want, which is sometimes a challenge but fun."

Storm On The Way by Carolyn Tibbetts

For me, both pastels and watercolor call to me because they are stress-free and easy clean up. When I experimented with oils a couple of years ago, every time I painted I ended up with blue (or red or yellow or green) hands and arms up to my elbows for a week and fretted endlessly about what to do with the solvents without setting the house on fire! In spite of loving the rich colors and luscious character of oils, I decided painting should be relaxing, not stress-inducing so I abandoned them and stick to admiring and purchasing the work of my oil artist friends at the gallery.

Sego Lily by Janet Buckingham

The bottom line is you, as a buyer, should make purchases based on love. If you keep walking back to a piece, buy it whether it is watercolor, pastel, pencil, clay, silver, glass, fabric, ink or seeds collected from a meadow. As an artist, the same rule applies: do what you love and it will show up on the easel.