A wide variety of textural and visual effects are categorized as decorative paintings. In recent times, tole paintings and folk art has also been added to the decorative paintings category. The variety does not just end with the various forms of art; rather, it encompasses the wide range of painting techniques used on different surfaces throughout the history of art. Whatever the technique or classification that this form of art takes, one thing manages to sum them up; the painting must be decorative. This means that this form of art must add color, light and beauty to either interior or external surfaces.
The history of decorative paintings in the United States dates as far back as the early occupation of North America. With the arrival of immigrants from other lands and cultures came different styles and techniques of painting. The immigrants became especially active in decorative paintings in the 1800s as they sought to express the new environment and lifestyles in their new found land through art. Still, immigrants from Europe could not completely drop the European influence on art. This explains why styles such as Rosmaling, Bavarian folk art and Zhostova were still prevalent in early American art. Of these, folk art remains the most popular style of painting. The modern color palette as we know it today has its origin in folk art as practiced by immigrants to the Americas in the 1800s.
The 1900s marked a new dawn for decorative paintings as art styles and techniques developed from primitive to exquisite. Although it is hard to pin down a definition for such paintings due to their evolving nature, the bottom line is that whatever influence or culture the painting is based, it should be appealing to the eye through a combination of careful use of colors, subject outline and the painting strokes as executed by the painter. Decorative paintings are mainly done on furniture, walls and a selection of other useful objects. The main distinction between such and fine art paintings mainly lies in the fact that the former is done on utilitarian objects, while the latter is done on aesthetic objects only. Some definitions however suggest that decorative paintings can be done on either functional or non-functional items.
An outstanding characteristic of decorative paintings is the lasting influence of history, culture and regional developments ingrained in it. The same is evident in the systematic painting methods, which makes it one of the few forms of art that is incorporated in academic disciplines to date. In addition to academic training received by painters on the same, they can use their inherent drawing abilities to add freehand or pre-dawn designs to the paintings. Overall, decorative paintings in the contemporary society are boundless; they incorporate techniques and styles from the past and adapt to new materials and trends, while experimenting with new decorative forms of art in the hope of using the same in future.