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A brief history.

For centuries people have painted everyday objects to decorate their homes. Some designs were primitive and others more elaborate, depending on the skill of the artist and the object being painted. These methods were taught to successive generations and were generally painted by those with no formal training, giving rise to the term folk art.

Each area tended to develop its own style such as the Bauernmalerei style of Bavaria, Hinderloopen of the Netherlands, the beautiful Russian folk art of the Ukraine and our own Narrow Boat Painting. As people travelled they took their own style with them and it was then copied, or adapted such as the Pennsylvanian Dutch style of the USA. During the middle of the last century there was a decline in folk art in Europe but it continued to evolve in the USA, Russia and Australia, where many artists have developed their work to very fine standards. There is now a growing interest in Europe where the old techniques are being revived and developed using the new paints and mediums that are now available.

The appeal of this art form is that no drawing or painting skills are required as patterns can be used and the painting techniques are learned in a structured way that soon enables the student to obtain good results even though they may have never painted before. There are many techniques to learn in this form of decorative painting such as stroke work, the side loading used for shading and highlighting, double loaded stroke work with a flat brush sometimes referred to as "one stroke" , the use of retarder to allow subtle blending, and there is glazing, stippling and dry brushing . Often students gain the confidence to adapt designs and even progress to creating their own. So for the beginner or the more experienced painter there are many things to learn.

This document maintained by Sally Stone.
Material Copyright © Decorative Folk Art

Updated 19 March 2008