NCEA

Visual arts - glossary

May include but is not limited to the following

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.
WATERCOLOR:	Water soluble paint which can be transparent or opaque.