Decorative painting is a very broad field in the realm of the arts. Since time immemorial, its definite meaning is being argued upon by artists and scholars from various universities and institutions. The attempts to be exact with the term’s specific context always fail, though, since they are blanketed by people’s general understanding of it: any kind of painting whose aim is to come up with something beautiful, using an array of brushing techniques, media, and materials.

In contemporary times, decorative painting is used to refer to artistic works painted on surfaces other than the conventional canvas. Among these surfaces are fabric, wood, glass, plastic, ceramics, potteries, marbles, tiles, and the like. Like all forms of painting, decorative painting necessitates different types of paint, specialty brushes, and other materials used for stroking.

In the usual home décor and children’s art lessons, the use of acrylic-based paint products has been a tradition because these products dry very fast, clearly produce desired colors, safe, water-based, and economical. Among more experienced decorative painters though, various kinds of complex oil-based paint, gels, glazes, and extenders are used in order to come up with deeper and more complicated effects.

Techniques in decorative painting are diverse. They range from the most basic brushing styles like freehand stroking to the most complicated ones like stippling and pickling. Decorative Painting is an institutionalized field in the visual arts; many scholarly institutions worldwide offer decorative painting as undergraduate and graduate degrees. Students who finish these courses become professional decorative painters and top-notch artists.

As a result visual works of art leave the viewer with an impression of an extreme emotion. Whether that feeling is joy or the deepest pits of despair, the artist has done their job if something of their reality shows through their work. Painters of all races and ethnic backgrounds can surely relate to the “starving artist” theory. But for black artist the struggle has been a little more intense. Not only in the U.S. as the children of freed slaves, but unfortunately in their mother continent of Africa, Black American artists have faced discrimination and censorship. Fortunately both sets of unique, gifted artists are beginning to see some of the attention and praise they deserve. Black art painting is finally being seen for the huge contribution to history and the art world that it is.

Both sides of the world have produced amazingly gifted artists. In the Western hemisphere there are certain black men and women who paved the way for the African American artists of today. Horace Pippin is one of those men. After an injury in WWI, Pippin discovered his underlying talent for rich, historical painting. While he avoided the unpleasantness of life for a black man in the U.S. during that time period, he did produce black art paintings that spoke volumes to the viewer. His work was displayed in the Museum of Modern Art in 1938. A less known black artist that contributed to the black art movement in the United States is Walter Ellison. His most famous work is “Train Station” located in the Art Institute of Chicago. That painting is an honest look at the difficulties facing black families as they migrated north in the hope of a better future than the south could or would offer. These two exceptional black artists help give hope of recognition to the many gifted black artists that were to follow.

The scenario for artists from and living in Africa is different though. Despite the struggles with racial discrimination and inherent prejudice in the U.S., African artists are faced with even more difficult issues. Apartheid and censorship have long plagued this long suffering group of artists and painters. While expressing their views of the political unrest and unfair treatment, African artists have been subjected to severe punishment and censorship unheard of in the West. Thanks in part to the academic world’s growing interest in the work of the modern black artist, black art painting is receiving more attention and registering in the minds of museum curators and art galleries alike. Most of the credit belongs to the fortitude and artistic expression of the African artists themselves.