WHAT?
I. What is paint?

All of this said, can there even be a definition of paint?

“Paint: A coloured substance which is spread over a surface and dries to leave a thin decorative or protective coating.”

The Oxford Dictionary, obviously, has only been to the hardware store! You would hardly think of a Singer Sargent watercolour as paint “spread” over a surface, nor would oil paint, perhaps indeed spread by Rembrandt, be called thin or protective. So we’re left with “decorative”, and I’m not sure many artists would be amused…
Hear some of them talk of paint instead:

“Watercolours are so sexy. Take a pool of blue, drop in a little yellow, and slowly the two bleed into each other in a kind of marriage. It’s awfully fecund; it ought to be banned really.” (John Olsen)

“Paint is water and stone. It is also liquid thought.” (James Elkin)

“You can’t tame the wild animal that is watercolour.” (David Pokon)

“I love oil paint, deeply. It’s rich, and I like the slowness of it and the layers—it’s sort of delicious.”(Nicola Grellier)

“We become painters at some deep level not out of a love of images—after all, there are many ways to create those. Instead, at some point, we fall in love with the very stuff of our chosen medium. And if that happens to be oils, then our love is with the silky, dense, slippery, and intractable mud we spend our lives trying to master. We fall in love with those materials that speak to our sensibilities and souls; to being lost within the muddle of the mess of it all.” (Sarah Sands)¹

March 27, 1963, Picasso writes on a blank page of his sketchbook: “Paint is stronger than I, She makes me do her will.” I keep the French “elle”, as paint feels feminine to me (sometimes!) My translation is biased too, as peinture could mean painting: The painting is stronger than I… But if I got it wrong, I can live with that. The power of paint in itself is no news to me/seems valid too, and I have witnessed it time and again do as it wills!

Now I feel we are getting somewhere. Because do you think millions of people would watch paint-mixing videos—and they do!—to see “a colour substance being spread over a surface?” I don’t think so. And, how has the hashtag #paintporn become one of those I see going around the block often, even under the header of venerable paint-making companies? Maybe it says something about the porn take-over of our psyche, or I’m having a Germaine Grrrr moment and should relax… it’s only paint porn, after all; nobody will be humiliated in the mix, and, let’s admit it, paint is sexy! 

Those that rave even more than artists are their paintmakers, and I really get it. Because seeing a little paint come out of a tube or even mixed on a palette cannot really compare to witnessing the mesmerising dance of the paint diving in and out of the triple rolls and then gushing out in wads at you. Reading the descriptions of paint on some of their websites, I’ve come across: entrancing, rich, generous, fascinating, hypnotic, manipulative, expressive, luminous, vibrant, provocative, reflective, honest, strong, soft, fluid, buttery, clotted, clean, teasing, gooey, slimy, stiff, gritty… unpredictable too, even wilful. I would certainly not dare to venture into a statement about all colourmen being sexists, yet might not these exact words remind you of those used by Church and Society to warn about the fatal attractions of Woman? Hum, maybe let us not get into the debate of Colore vs Disegno just yet…

P.S.: If defining paint is challenging, defining a painter was also, for some centuries, quite the issue. Today, one “paints” whichever kind of paint and technique one uses, whereas there was a time when that word was used exclusively for easel oil painting. Watercolour painting was referred to as “limning” (with a further “washing” distinction if, indeed, only washes of colour were applied to maps or prints vs art making proper.) Fabric painting was referred to as “staining”, once again, to be distinguished from dyeing. In England, during Medieval times, competition between stainers and those painting on wood, leather or plaster, aka painters, was raging. It took creating a joint Painter-Stainer Company—to appear in the 16th century—for this to ease. Nevertheless, within the same Company, the distinction between those ‘decorative’ stainer-painters and easel painters was still significant, Craft vs Art seemingly one of those ongoing debates…

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Additional information & references

1. Sadly, I must confess that I gathered these lovely quotes along my research but did not note their provenance and don’t seem able to find them now. ↩︎