Painting = drawing? [paint, draw]

N

NHHL

Senior Member
Singapore-English
- I got these sentences from an English book:

"Come see local artists present their latest paintings, drawings, and handicrafts. Many items will be on sale at reasonable prices."

- As far as I know "painting" and "drawing" are the same meaning, so why does this speaker use them at the same time here?

Thanks so much!

NHHL
 
    • Or put more simply: Drawing is about tracing outlines and the mainly monochrome shades, that may or may not be part of the drawing, are secondary.

    Painting is primarily about creating a picture mainly by using colors and with less or no emphasis on outlines.
     
    Sepia said:
    Or put more simply: Drawing is about tracing outlines and the mainly monochrome shades, that may or may not be part of the drawing, are secondary.

    Painting is primarily about creating a picture mainly by using colors and with less or no emphasis on outlines.
    Click to expand...


    I don't know if this explanation works for me. Sketching is a kind of drawing, but it is also a kind of painting. It is common to say he made a water color sketch. But water color is a painting method, not a drawing method.

    I think it is better to say that paintings are done with paint; drawing is done with other media.
     
    When did watercolours stop being called watercolour drawings? I don't think the change coincided with the development of the technique of applying the watercolour immediately on the paper without a base in drawn outlines. Some painters, like Albert Goodwin, did the drawing after the painting had been completed, thereby reversing the traditional order.

    I'm saying that there is not any very clearly established rule at the margins. Certainly a drawing is usually done with a fine utensil, like a pencil, or a crayon, and is monochrome, unless the word is modified by an adjective indicating the contrary. It's not true that drawing is only concerned with outlines, because there are possibilities for a world of hatching and shading in a drawing.
     
    In the USA I've heard of "water color sketches", but I don't believe I've ever heard of "water color drawings". Perhaps this is a UK usage only?

    Addendum:

    I just Googled: Water color sketches (2,480,000 hits) and Water color drawings (13,000,000 hits). So that is how much I know.
     
    Before this trickle becomes a flood, try a Google search.

    29K for watercolor drawing, 95K for watercolour drawing, so it's not exclusive to BE, with the usual provisos.

    I think it was quite the standard term for watercolours in the early 19th century.
     
    Packard said:
    I Googled "Water color drawing" (in quotation marks) and got this example (which looks very much like a drawing to me):

    http://www.tias.com/9105/PictPage/1923057207.html
    Click to expand...

    Although, I am not an artist, I would again refer you to the #2 post above.

    I would also ad that in common English use, it is common to interchange the two words: paintings, drawings. If it is not paint, such as oil or such, it can be described as a drawing or simply, "a water color". If it is a water color and someone calls it a "painting", (although I personally consider it incorrect) I believe that will fly in normal conversation without the need for great debate or correction.

    I am waiting for someone to show up on this thread with a quote off google of "someone drawing a room in his house" instead of "someone painting the room in his house".;)
     
    Loob said:
    Why would it be "incorrect"?:confused:

    Water colour paints are ... paints.
    Click to expand...

    I'm sorry don't have the American Artists and Paint Diccionary in front of me right now. The terms are interchangable.

    "A water coloring of the mountain", for those hell-bent on not considering that it is a painting
    or
    "A water color painting of the mountain" for those who have the deep religious belief that it is a true painting and deserving of great respect.
    or
    "Wow, that's a pretty picture!" for those who really don't give a rats ass about semantics but truly enjoy good art. ;)
     
    Last edited:
    Packard said:
    I Googled "Water color drawing" (in quotation marks) and got this example (which looks very much like a drawing to me):

    http://www.tias.com/9105/PictPage/1923057207.html
    Click to expand...
    But Packard, the artist has used washes, and they convert it from a drawing to a watercolour or, as some old-fashioned people would say, a watercolour drawing.

    Loob said:
    Why would it be "incorrect"?:confused:

    Water colour paints are ... paints.
    Click to expand...
    I don't think in BE it's so much "incorrect" as unhelpful. Painters and collectors and auctioneers and anyone else who has a serious interest in the things need terms to differentiate between something in pencil, something in watercolour on paper, and something in oil on canvas or board. There are other categories, of course. People who have to describe these things every day need these words and have developed a language. We here seem to be dealing with the layman's way of talking, and the evidence is that this at times flounders between the works of Rembrandt and painting the kitchen ceiling.
     
    Last edited:
    If I make a picture with paint (watercolour, gouache, acrylic, oil, erm), I call it a painting.
    If I make a picture with something else (pastels, graphite, coloured pencil, charcoal, wax crayon, erm), I call it a drawing.

    If I don't want to specify, I call it a picture.

    I've heard watercolour drawings, Mr.T ... but not since about 1890.
     
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