Visual Arts glossary

Appropriation

Where an artist uses objects or images taken from another artist, culture or context.

Blending

Smoothing edges of colours together so that they have a smooth gradation where they meet.

Canvas

Closely woven cloth used as a support for paintings.

Chiaroscuro

Italian for light/dark. Shading forms with strong contrasts.

Collage

Using materials other than the traditional paint, such as cut paper, wood, sand, and so on.

Colour

May be natural, high key, monochrome, cold, warm, psychedelic, etc.

Composition

The arrangement of elements in the painting or drawing. These may include balance/imbalance, repetition/singularity, movement/static, vertical/horizontal, simple/complex, symmetry/asymmetry, contrast/similarity, and/or harmony/discord.

Crosshatching

Parallel lines that crisscross each other at angles, to model and indicate tone.

Encaustic

A medium that uses hot wax to bind the pigment.

Expressive

Strong colours and/or vigorous application of media.

Eye level/horizon

Line running through a composition that represents the artist's viewpoint.

Foreground

The front of the picture plane (usually at the bottom of the picture).

Focal point

The main part of the picture that draws the viewer's attention.

Form

An object which has, or appears to have, three dimensional volume and solidity.

Formal properties

A description of, textures, colours, composition, size and style.

Frottage

Textural rubbings.

Gesso

A white ground material (chalk, white pigment, and glue) for preparing rigid supports for painting.

Glaze

Thin transparent layer of coloured paint used to tint the object/colours underneath.

Ground

The surface a work is made on, such as paper, canvas, board, hessian.

Hatching

Close series of parallel lines that indicate tone and form.

Hierarchy

Some parts of the picture being more dominant and/or important than others.

Impasto

A style of painting characterized by thick, juicy colour application.

Juxtaposed

Placed side by side or alongside each other, often to create contrast.

Light source

The direction from which the light is coming (may be single or multiple light sources).

Line

Long/short, hard/soft, jagged/smooth, continuous/broken, straight/curved etc.

Local colour

The actual colour of an object or surface such as green for grass (not purple).

Medium:

The liquid in which pigments are suspended.

Mixed media

In drawing and painting this refers to the use of different media in the same picture.

Mosaic

Small units of variously coloured materials (glass, tile, stone) set in a mortar.

Monochrome/monochromatic:

One colour only, or in black and white.

Negative space

The area in a picture that is not the subject or the space around/behind objects.

Pattern

An arrangement of sequence of shapes.

Perspective

One point, or linear, perspective is based around receding parallel lines that appear to meet at a vanishing point on the horizon or eye level. Atmospheric perspective blurs lines that are further away.

Pictorial depth

How deep or shallow the picture looks ? window to infinity.

Plein air

French for "open air" meaning paintings done outside directly from the subject.

Primary colours

Red, yellow and blue (primary colours can't be mixed from other colours).

Primer

Coating material, usually white, applied to a support to prepare it for painting.

Proportion

The dimensions, or scale, of the various parts of an image or object, in relation to each other and to the object as a whole. The golden ratio 1:1.618 is considered an elegant proportion.

Scale

Relative size, for instance one drawing or part of a drawing in relation to another.

Scumbling

Applying a thin, semi-opaque coating of paint over a previously painted surface to alter the colour or appearance of the surface without totally obscuring it.

Sfumato

Italian for "shaded off". Gradual, almost imperceptible transitions of colour from light to dark.

Sgraffito

Technique in which the surface layer is incised or cut away to reveal a contrasting colour.

Shape

A two-dimensional surface with a defined area but no volume ? geometric/organic, complex/simple.

Shellac

A yellow resin formed from secretions of the LAC insect, used in making varnish.

Surface

The appearance of top layer which may be rough, smooth, slippery, furry, soft etc.

Symbol/symbolic

Something that stands for or represents something else.

Tonal modelling

Graduated light to dark tones to make a two-dimensional shape three dimensional.

Tone

Lightness or darkness of any part of an object or composition.

Transparent

Can be seen through.

Trompe l'oeil

French for "deceive the eye". Looks like a real object.

Underpainting

The traditional oil painting of using a monochrome as a base for composition.

Vanishing point

The fixed point on the horizon where the perspective lines meet.

Varnish

Transparent material that protects the paint (can make it shiny as well).

Volume

The space that an object or figure fills in a drawing or painting.

Wash

A thin, usually broadly applied, layer of transparent or heavily diluted paint or ink.

Watercolour

Water soluble paint which can be transparent or opaque.