Discover an extensive glossary of art terms and definitions to enhance your understanding of art techniques, materials, and principles. Ideal for artists, students, and art enthusiasts.

Glossary

A

• Abstract Art: Art that does not attempt to represent external reality, but seeks to achieve its effect using shapes, colours, and textures.
• Acrylic: A fast-drying paint made of pigment suspended in acrylic polymer emulsion.
• Alla Prima: A painting technique in which layers of wet paint are applied to previously administered layers of wet paint.

B

• Balance: A principle of design that refers to the way elements are arranged to create a feeling of stability in a work.
• Brushwork: The distinctive manner in which an artist applies paint with a brush.

C

• Canvas: A strong, woven cloth traditionally used as a surface for painting.
• Chiaroscuro: The treatment of light and shade in drawing and painting.
• Collage: A technique of composing a work of art by pasting various materials such as paper, fabric, etc., on a single surface.

D

• Diptych: A work of art consisting of two painted or carved panels that are hinged together.
• Drypoint: An intaglio printmaking technique where an image is incised into a plate with a hard-pointed needle.

E

• Easel: A stand used to support a canvas or drawing board while an artist is working.
• Etching: A printmaking technique that uses chemical action to produce incised lines in a metal printing plate which then holds the applied ink and forms the image.

F

• Fresco: A technique of mural painting executed upon freshly laid lime plaster.
• Form: An element of art that is three-dimensional and encloses volume, including height, width, and depth.

G

• Gesso: A white paint mixture consisting of a binder mixed with chalk, gypsum, pigment, or any combination of these.
• Gouache: A method of painting using opaque pigments ground in water and thickened with a gluelike substance.

H

• Harmony: The principle of design that combines elements in a work of art to emphasise the similarities of separate but related parts.
• Hue: A colour or shade.

I

• Impasto: A technique used in painting, where paint is laid on an area of the surface very thickly.
• Intaglio: A family of printmaking techniques in which the image is incised into a surface.

L

• Linocut: A printmaking technique in which a design is carved into a linoleum surface.
• Lithography: A method of printing originally based on the immiscibility of oil and water.

M

• Medium: The materials that are used to create a work of art.
• Mixed Media: Artwork in which more than one medium or material has been employed.

N

• Negative Space: The space around and between the subject(s) of an image.
• Neutral Colours: Colours not associated with any hue; white, black, and greys.

O

• Oil Paint: A type of slow-drying paint that consists of particles of pigment suspended in a drying oil.
• Opaque: Not able to be seen through; not transparent.

P

• Palette: A thin board or slab on which an artist lays and mixes colours.
• Perspective: The technique used to represent three-dimensional objects on a two-dimensional surface.

R

• Relief: A sculptural technique where the sculpted elements remain attached to a solid background of the same material.
• Repoussé: A metalworking technique in which a malleable metal is ornamented or shaped by hammering from the reverse side.

S

• Sculpture: The art of making two- or three-dimensional representative or abstract forms, especially by carving stone or wood or by casting metal or plaster.
• Still Life: A work of art depicting mostly inanimate subject matter.

T

• Tempera: A method of painting with pigments dispersed in an emulsion miscible with water, typically egg yolk.
• Texture: The perceived surface quality of a work of art.

U

• Underpainting: The initial layer of paint applied to a ground, which serves as a base for subsequent layers of paint.

V

• Value: The lightness or darkness of a colour.
• Vanishing Point: The point at which receding parallel lines viewed in perspective appear to converge.

W

• Wash: A technique in painting in which a layer of colour, usually thinned, is spread over a large area.
• Watercolour: A paint made of pigment suspended in water.

Z

• Zoomorphism: Art that imagines humans as non-human animals.