direct application of pigment to a surface to produce by tones of color or of light and dark some representation or decorative arrangement of natural or imagined forms. See also articles on individual painters, e.g., Rubens ; countries, e.g., Dutch art ; periods, e.g., Renaissance art and architecture ; techniques, e.g., encaustic . Painters use a number of materials to produce the effects they desire. These include the materials of the surface, or ground; the pigments employed; the binder, or medium, in which the color is mixed; and its diluting agent. Among the various media used by artists are fresco , watercolor , oil, distemper, gouache, tempera , and encaustic . In addition to these, painting properly embraces many other techniques ordinarily associated with drawing , a term that is often used to refer to the linear aspects of the same art. If painting and drawing are not always clearly distinguishable from each other, both are to be distinguished from the print (or work of…