December 3rd, 2009More Technical Terms For Artists!
Author: Anna Meenaghanbr
Source: ezinearticles.combr
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There seems to be an abundance of these to plow through, so I will continue writing the articles at least until we have covered many of the basic terms.
Opaque – This is the opposite of transparent. Paint itself is opaque once it covers the surface it is on, actually hiding what is underneath it. Now saying this, some pigments you will find, are naturally pretty transparent and need a binding agent like beeswax which will make them opaque. You could add some white to give a transparent pigment a bit more opaqueness.
Masking – This is a very useful fluid to own. For this is a way of keeping your ground colour, or in fact, any other parts of your painting, clean and clear by protecting them with a masking fluid. You can then paint where you like on the unmasked areas without having to worry about overlapping. Many artists will actually mask out large areas of their canvas. Then they can paint liberally and have tidy mapped out shapes.
Stippling – This method is actually making paint marks and this work is done with a stiff bristled brush which really needs to be pretty thick. You then dip the brush in the paint and you need to hold it at right angles to the surface of your picture. Then you can apply light, short dabs to it. This leaves an impression of roughish, circular type, of paint flecks.
Scumbling – This is a form of painting technique whereby a layer of opaque or sometimes semi-opaque colour, is brushed over the previous layer of another colour, but only so that the layer beneath is only partly obliterated. This way, the painting will show through here and there.
Gum Arabic – This is a gum derived from various trees of the Acacia variety which are found growing in Australia, Asia and Africa. This solution, as a medium, is used with water colours and tempera. It can also be used on ceramics as a binding agent. This gum arabic is probably used most as one of the water soluble gums. It is sold sometimes in a lump, powder or more often in liquid form.
Poster Paint is also known as gouache. Really this is a water colour that is opaque. This needs to be diluted and then you can apply it to paper, silk or card. It has the basic advantage that it dries rapidly, leaves no brush marks and has a matte finish. You can buy it everywhere and it is very cheap. Some artists use this as a preparatory paint for oils and acrylics.
Terracotta – which really means and is, baked earth. An Italian term really. Basically, this applies to any clay which is fired. Clay is coarse, porous and a sort of reddish brown or dull sort of ochre colour. In fact, clay is used for many things besides terracotta pots. Figures, ornaments, bricks and even roof tiling.
So you will realise it is used worldwide. Then you have the famous terracotta figures going back to the Bronze Age in Greece. Terracotta is not usually glazed, probably because of the roughness of the material itself. Today it is still popular and used widely for pottery.
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pLooking for more great Help guides on art? The author, a target=_new href=http://annameenaghanart.com rel=nofollowcontemporary artist/a Anna Meenaghan, has a lot more on her online art community website. As a a target=_new href=http://annameenaghanart.com/index.php?p=1_5_contemporary_painter rel=nofollowcontemporary painter/a she certainly knows a thing or two about these terms and readily enjoys passing on her knowledge to newcomers to the world of art/pbr
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