Final Exam Flashcards
Media/Medium
The material on or from which an artist chooses to make a work of art, for example canvas and oil paint, marble, engraving, video, or architecture.
Drawing
A form of visual art in which an artist uses instruments to mark paper or other two-dimensional surfaces. Drawing instruments include graphite pencils, pen and ink, various kinds of paints, inked brushes, colored pencils, crayons, charcoal, chalk, pastels, erasers, markers, styluses, and metals.
Silverpoint/Metal Point
A piece of silver wire set in some type of holder, usually wood, to make the wire easier to grasp and control. The artist hones the end of the wire to a sharp point to create finely detailed drawings, typically on wood primed with a thin coating of bone.
Charcoal
Smudges easily, creates lines that can be easily shaped and altered, usually has strong dark value, and is soft compared to metal-based drawing material. Artists choose charcoal when they want to express strong dark tones, add interest to a surface, and make something look solid rather than linear; Two common types: Vine and compressed.
Graphite
Looks and writes like lead just without the weight. Has different degrees of hardness, longevity, and darkness.
Pastel
A powdered pigment mixed with gum and used in stick form for drawing.
Wash
A wash is a term for a visual arts technique resulting in a semi-transparent layer of colour.
Ink
An ancient writing and drawing medium in liquid or paste form, traditionally black or brown – though it can also contain colored dyes or pigments; Different types of drawing inks: carbon or gall; Painting inks are slightly different from drawing inks because they have a binder, usually gum arabic, rather than simply being suspended in water.
Paper
Invented in China around the end of the first century by someone who manufactured it out of pounded plant fibers and can be classified by surface texture and weight.
Painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface.
Pigment
The colored material used in paints. Often made from finely ground minerals.
Gesso
A substance similar to white acrylic paint, used to make the surface smooth for painting.
Support
The material on which a painting is executed.
Binder
A substance that makes pigments adhere to a surface.
Glaze
The illusion of translucent color is achieved by several thin layers called glazes; In oil painting, adding a transparent layer of paint to achieve a richness in texture, volume, and form.
Impasto
Paint applied in thick layers.
Tempera
A fast-drying painting medium made from pigment combined with water and egg yolk.
Encaustic
A painting medium that primarily uses wax, usually beeswax, (and a damar resin binder) as the binding agent.
Fresco
Frescos are a form of wall painting using wet plaster; Piment plus lime water and wet plaster. From the Italian word “fresco,” meaning fresh.
Watercolor
Suspended pigment in water with a sticky binder, usually gum arabic, which helps the pigment adhere to the surface of the paper when dry. Watercolor is transparent and usually used on paper.
Acrylic
A liquid polymer, or plastic, which is used as a binder for pigment in acrylic paint.
Mixed-Media
The use of a variety of materials to make a work of art.
Printmaking
Printmaking is the process of creating artworks by printing, normally on paper, but also on fabric, wood, metal, and other surfaces.
Matrix
An origination point such as woodblock, from which a print is derived.