ART 1143

Under Painting

The first layer of a painting that is a preparation for the final layers of the painting.

Contextualism

The general idea that the nature of things can only be described or known in relation to (by comparing them with) other things or contexts. To follow, things may change in appearance when they are extracted from one environment and displaced to another (as in simultaneous contrast). The term means much the same as holism and relativism.

Primary Colors

The hues that are used to make all other color mixtures.

Hue

The name of a color us ed to describe its specific location in the color spectrum

Toned ground

After priming the canvas or board, apply an opaque ground of raw umber. The color should be softened with a little flake white and diluted with the standard amount of medium. Use a large bristle brush and apply the paint smoothly and u nevenly. It is important for the toned ground to be thoroughly dry before you paint over it. This can take up to 48 hours — perhaps longer if a lot of white has been added to the color. For this reason it is a good idea to have a few canvases or boards in va rious colors prepared ready for painting at any one time. Alternatively, you can use acrylic paint to tone the canvas. This dries in minutes, making it possible to begin the overpainting in the same session, and can quite happily be overpainted in oils (th ough acrylics can not be painted on top of oils)

Gesso

An impermeable paint coating that is applied to fabric and wooden substrates, to reduce the absorbent qualities of these materials, and to protect them from the acidic properties of oil paint.

Proprioception

"The aspects of things that are most important for us are hidden because of their simplicity and familiarity. (One is unable to notice something because it is always before one's eyes.) The real foundations of his inquiry do not strike a man at all." — Wittgenstein What Wittgenstein writes here, of epistemology, might apply to aspects of one's physiology and psychology — especially in regard to what Sherrington once called 'our secret sense, our sixth sense' — that continuous but unconscious sensory flow from the movable parts of our body (muscles, tendons, joints), by which their position and tone and motion are continually monitored and adjusted, but in a way which is hidden from us because it is automatic and unconscious. Our other senses — the five senses — are open and obvious; but this — our hidden sense — had to be discovered, as it was, by Sherrington, in the 1890s. He named it 'proprioception', to distinguish it from 'exteroception' and 'interoception', and, additionally, because of its indispensability for our sense of ourselves; for it is only by courtesy of proprioception, so to speak, that we feel our bodies as proper to us, as our 'property', as our own. (Sherrington 1906,1940.)

Bilateral Symmetry

(approximate balance)

Asymmetrical Balance

(balance without symmetry)

Absolute Symmetry

(perfectly reflected balance)

Painting Vehicle

- The substance that is used to improve the flow of paint, by thinning its binder. In oil paint, the vehicle is a solvent like mineral spirits or turpentine

Atmospheric Depth

An observable quality in three-dimensional space, where subjects become progressively more obscured/less visible, as they move farther away from a viewer, as there is more atmosphere interposed between them. Likewise, receding objects tend to take on the color of this atmosphere.

Diminishing Size

An observable quality in three-dimensional space, which describes the change in apparent scale in objects as they recede away from the viewer.

Design

Anything characterized by an approximate mixture of unity with variety. Any kind of construction, in any material, can possess this characteristic, since a design need not be visual (nor does it have to be art) to be called esthetic. Encounters with esthetically designed objects can be pleasant or unpleasant, enthralling or disturbing, but in general they exhort a heightening of our ability to perceive the kind, location, and timing of things.

Modeling

Blending paint in a way that renders the illusion of a three - dimensional form.

Prismatic Colors

Colors that are fully saturated; at the highest and most intense level of saturation -pure hues.

Muted Colors

Colors that have been faded or slightly de-saturated by the addition of a complimentary color, white, or black, yet remain identifiable as their color of origin.

Embedded Figures

Complex geometric shapes (commonly used in psychology tests) in which smaller shapes are hidden. The smaller shapes are hard to see because they make "good units" with (they are consistent with or similar to) the larger wholes in which they hide.

Anesthetic Design

Constructions or arrangements characterized by unity without variety (extreme repetition) or variety without unity (extreme variation). Prolonged encounters with anesthetic phenomena can result in a numbing of the senses, much as in drug induced anesthesia, in which we can no longer perceive the kind, location, and timing of things.

Visual Design

Constructions or arrangements which are primarily addressed to the eye and which are characterized by the structural feature of unity with variety. A design can be visual without being esthetic, or it can be esthetic without being visual.

Incised Marks

Drawing into a wet layer of paint, in order to reveal layers underneath. Also called scraffitto.

Stippling with a round bristle brush

Here the artist is using a round stippling b rush to apply tempera paint. Each of the stiff hairs leaves a tiny dot of color on the panel, enabling a large area to be covered fairly quickly.

Gel Mediums

In both oil and acrylic, "gel" describes the high viscosity of the material (the thickness of the paint body). Alkyd gels are used for oil, and speed up the drying time of thicker paint bodies. Ac rylic gels add viscosity to acrylic paint.

Glazing

A painting process, where a transparent paint mixture is layered over existing paint layers, in order to modify the appearance of those colors.

Renaissance

A "rebirth" in the arts and sciences during 15th century Italy, which represented a reclaiming of Classical Roman heritage, such as realism, pagan mythology, and individualism. An important development of Renaissance painting was an illusionistic pictorial space that used linear perspective to organize foreshortening, diminishing size, overlapping and other observable qualities of three dimensional space.

Dry Brush

A brush mark made onto a dry surface, that catches the texture of this surface. Google Francis Bacon

Foreshortening

A change in scale within a single form, according to the principle of diminishing size. Andrea Mantegna was a Renaissance painter, known for creating one of the first works that used ____________ in a convincing manner ("The Lamentation of the Dead Christ," Tempera on Canvas, 1480).

Analogous Colors

A color scheme that consists of adjacent colors in the color spectrum (red, orange, yellow, or blue, green yellow).

Monochromatic Colors

A color scheme that consists of variations in the value of a single color, resulting in lighter tints (mixtures with white) and tones (mixtures with black).

Impasto Medium

A high-viscosity (thick- bodied) alkyd medium that maintains the thickness of oil point, while speeding the drying time. Marks hold their peaks and can be applied in a high relief.

Gestalt

A holistic style of psychology which originated in Germany prior to World War I. The Gestaltists(Wertheimer, Koffka, and Kohler) emphasized visual perception. They investigated figure and ground phenomena, developed the principles of perceptual organization (or the unit-forming factors, which are essentially the same as the principles of design) and stressed the contextual nature of things (the whole is greater than the sum of its parts) . The German word Gestalt is most often said to mean "structure" or "arrangement"

Impasto

A painting technique that uses a thick application of paint , which holds its peaks. An art historical example of impasto is Vincent Van Gogh, who used thick paint and bright colors in his paintings.

wash

A painting technique, where paint is diluted with a vehicle, and applied to a surface already treated with this vehicle, so that the surface tension and capillary action of the vehicle spread the pigment evenly

Zeigarnik Effect

A principle of perception, proposed in 1927 by the Russian psychologist Bluma Zeigarnik, in which it is predicted that people will give attention to, and retain in the memory longer, things which are disturbing, unsolved, complex, or ambiguous. It is related to the common idea of closure, which the Gestalt psychologists proposed several years before.

Acrylic Transfer

A process where pigment from the surface of a piece of paper transfers into an acrylic medium, and the paper is rubbed away with water.

Galkyd

A proprietary alkyd medium made by Grumbacher, that speeds the drying of oil paint, and can be used in glazing. Paint dries with a glossy finish when mixed with Galkyd.

Liquin

A proprietary alkyd medium made by Winsor & Newton, that speeds the drying of oil paint, and can be used in glazing. Paint dries with a matte finish when mixed with Liquin.

Proximity Grouping

A special case of similarity grouping in which it is predicted that things which occur together in space will appear to belong together and those which are separated in space will appear t o belong apart. It is grouping by similarity of location.

Contiguity Grouping

A special case similarity grouping in which it is predicted that things which occur together in time will appear to belong together and those which occur at different times will appear to belong apart. It is grouping by similarity of occurrence in time.

process of toned grounds

A toned canvas helps you to judge the relative intensity of your color mixtures more accurately than a white canvas can. This is because the toned canvas gives you an idea of how t he colors will look when surrounded by other colors. To demonstrate this, the illustration above shows a piece of canvas, of which half is painted with a toned ground of raw umber and half is left white. Small squares of ultramarine and cadmium yellow are applied to each half: 20 observe closely and you will see how much more intense the colors appear on the toned ground than they do on the white canva

Toned ground • Acrylic

Acrylic paint thinned down with water to a fairly fluid state is ideal for preparing a toned ground because it dries so quickly, allowing you to work on it soon afterwards. But, because of the speed with which it dries, you have to apply it quickly.

IMPRIMATURA

In oil and acrylic painting, a toned ground serves exactly the same purpose as an ____________ It tones down the glaring white of the canvas or board, which can be somewhat intimidating, and it unifies the overall color scheme if small areas are allowed to show through the overpainting. transparent

Frottage

In painting, a technique where a layer of paint is applied over a textured surface, and then wiped away from the relief, so that it remains only in the recessed areas of the texture. Google Rembrandt for examples.

Attention

In perception, a sorting or "filtering" process which allows us, at any one time, to focus on specific portions of our environment (figure) and to delay or neglect the remainder (ground). There are innumerable factors which determine if things will be attended to. Some of these include repetition, size, change, movement, intensity, novelty, and contrast, but all are dependent on context.

TEXTURAL PAINTING

In the early 1900s, the Cubist painters introduced a great many innovations into painting, which have now become commonly accepted. Among them was the idea of cr eating textures and forms with additions to the paint itself, rather than by creating the illusion of them with brushstrokes. Certain artists began experimenting by mixing coarse - textured substances into the paint before applying it to the canvas. They add ed sand, marble dust, sawdust, and wood shavings to give extra bulk to the paint and produce interesting textures on the canvas, often resembling bas - relief. What these artists were striving for was to emphasize the presence of the painting itself, as an object in its own right. lndeed, many of the more heavily textured works by Picasso, Braque, and Jean Arp seem to bridge the gap between painting and sculpture. To explore the tactile qualities of opaque paints such as oil, acrylic, and gouache, try addi ng sand, plaster, or sawdust to the paint to give it body and texture. The thickened paint should be applied to the support with a knife, rather than a brush. 19 In addition, all kinds of textures can be scratched, scraped, incised, or imprinted into a layer of thick paint. Experiment with a variety of improvised tools — old kitchen forks, spoons and knives, hair combs, wire brushes, popsicle sticks — anything that will leave an interesting, irregular texture. Such experiments may act as a springboard for ideas that you can develop in your paintings. A combed texture might suggest tree bark, for example, or the way the light falls across a stippled texture could suggest a rocky terrain. Experimenting with paint in this way serves a useful purpose in stretching t he imagination and in developing confidence in the handling of the medium. Even so, textural painting should not be used for purely facile or superficial effects. Rather, the textures you create should spring naturally from the textures which you observe i n nature.

Reversible Figure/Ground

Interlocked portions of a field which have certain features (equal size, equivalent novelty, and so on) which tend to make it likely that both can be focused upon equally. The result is a visual stalemate in which attention may suddenly shift, and what was initially figure may then be ignored as ground, and vice versa.

Staining Raw Canvas

Mix the tube color to a thin, fluid consistency, using the appropriate medium. Pour the paint directly onto the canvas

Additive Color Mixing

Mixing color with pure light - Primaries: RGB

Subtractive Color Mixing

Mixing color with reflected light - Primaries: RYB

Mutlicolored toned ground

More than one color can be used for the ground, particularly if you already know where you will want warm and cool tones in the finished picture.

toned ground oil

Oil paints can also be used to tone a ground and, like acrylics, have to be thinned down so that they have a liquid consistency. Turpentine is one of t he best dillutents for this purpose. Here the artist has used a cloth to distribute the umber paint over the canvas. An oil ground usually takes a day to dry thoroughly. Underpainting is the time - honored method of laying the foundation for a good painting by blocking in the main shapes and tones with thin paint, prior to the application of detailed color. The idea is to establish the overall composition and tonal relationships at the outset, thus providing a firm base from which to develop the painting. T he Old Masters often divided the execution of a complex painting into several, more manageable, stages. Firstly, an IMPRIMATURA or TONED GROUND was laid, followed by an underpainting. When the artist was satisfied with the organization of the picture, he t hen overpainted with thicker color and/or transparent glazes. Some artists favor working directly, or ALLAPRIMA, but there are certain advantages to making a preliminary underpainting. First of all, it helps to overcome the staring white of the canvas or b oard which comes through a toned ground or imprimatura. This makes it easier to judge the relative tones of the succeeding colors. Secondly, mapping out the composition in this way gives you an accurate idea of what the final painting will look like. At t his stage, you can see at a glance whether or not the picture "hangs together," and any necessary changes or corrections can be made. Because the paint is used so thinly in underpainting, mistakes at this point are easily corrected by wiping the paint with a rag soaked in turpentine substitute. Corrections should be avoided in the later stages of the painting, because they involve scraping down the paint, and there is a danger that the colors will become clogged and look tired from being overworked . Third ly, an underpainting leaves the artist free to concentrate on color and texture in the later stages of the painting, because all the decisions about light, shade and modeling have already been made. Always work loosely in the underpainting stage. Use a fai rly large brush and work rapidly, blocking in the main shapes and masses only. It is a mistake to put in too much detail at this stage, because it tends to restrict the freedom of brushwork later on. It is essential to keep the painting in a flowing, chang eable state and to work from the general to the particular. Regarding the colors used for underpainting, there are several choices: you may choose to block in the light and dark areas in a rough approximation of their finished colors; you may use neutral grays, blues, or earth colors which will help to unify the later layers of color; or you may choose a color that contrasts with the final coloring of the subject (a warm red under a stormy gray sky, for example). Rembrandt (1607-69) often underpainted his subjects in tones of gray, terre verte, or brown, overlaid with thin glazes. When painting flesh tones, Rubens (1577 -1610) used an underpainting of terre verte; this subdued green complements the pinkish color of the flesh and, when allowed to shine through in places, lends a delicate coolness to the shadows. To indicate light areas, use very diluted paint, or wipe off the color with a rag. An underpainting should consist of a mere stain of color which dries quickly and doesn't smudge or lift off when over painted.Acrylic Color for the underpainting stage should be mixed with matte medium, which dries without any shine. The obvious advantage of acrylic paints is that they dry so quickly, which means that you car complete the underpainting and the overpainting in one session if you wish.

Inherent Light

Our tendency to confuse intense saturation with bright values. Inherent light is the appearance of brightness when a color is highly saturated

over dry in acrylics

Painting wet ____ ____ __ ______ presents no problems, because the paint dries so quickly. In addition, the paint is insoluble once dry, even when diluted to the consistency of watercolor. This means that a wet overwash won't dissolve a dry underlayer, as sometimes happens with traditional watercolor. If you wish to paint wet-in-wet over a dry underlayer of paint, simply brush water or medium over the dry paint; the next layer of color can then be softly blended into the wetness

Achromatic Tones

Pure value without color.

Stippling with a brush

Shading and texture can be achieved by building up a mosaic of fine dots using a small, well pointed brush. Hold the brush almost at a right angle to the painting surface and repeatedly touch the tip to the surface without pressing too hard. Try to space the dots evenly and make them about the same size. Paint for stippling should be quite fluid, but not too runny; shake the brush to remove any excess moisture and avoid drips and runs. Stippling produces an area of color that appears lighter and brighter than the equivalent color applied in a flat wash. The overall effect can be extremely soft and subtle, especially when used over a wash of color. If you wish to increase the density of tone in an area, apply more dots but do not increase their size. Experiment by intermixing two or more colors; graduating from one color to another; and applying a stipple over different-colored washes.

Post-Modernism

Social issues in art, like gender, race, and ethnicity are brought to the forefront during the Post-Modernist period.

Co-Primary Triad

Structuring your palette with two versions of each subtractive primary color, so that each side of a color continuum is represented; allowing for the greatest possible range of hues.

Acrylic Polymer Emulsion

The binder in acrylic paint and painting mediums; a water-based emulsion that dries by evaporation, into a transparent, flexible, impermeable film.

Painting Medium

The binder in any given paint that holds the pigment together. Some special painting mediums have special qualities, such as speeding up the drying time.

Gloss

The character of a dried paint surface that has a high sheen or reflectivity.

Linseed Oil

The common binder in oil paint, also known as a drying oil.

Composition

The construction of works of art (as well as other things in life) in which regard is given to the similarities and differences among their structural features (elements of design or grouping attributes), such as lines, textures, hues,values, intensities, shapes, and sizes. Composition is synonymous with patternmaking.

Viscosity

The degree of thickness in a fluid body, ranging from high viscosity (very thick gel) to low viscosity (very fluid and runny).

optical mixing

The paintings of George Seurat use _______ _______ of color, or pointillism, to create space and form. Pointillism is a technique where broken/separate/distinct dots of color are placed next to each other on the surface, without blending, and when viewed from a distance, they mix together optically.

Color

The quality of an image or object determined by the range of hue, saturation, and value.

Stippling with a decorator's brush

The softer hairs of a decorator's brush produce a slightly blurred, more irregular stipple. A worn, ragged paintbrush with splayed hairs is also useful for stippling. Make sure the wad of sponge is thick enough to prevent the sharp point of the brush handle sticking through, and tape it firmly in position. Keep dabbing and lifting, overlapping the patterns until you achieve the density and texture that you want. Try dabbing one color into another, or producing graded tones by altering the density of stipple.

Binder

The substance in paint that binds the pigment together as the paint dries (term is used interchangeably with medium). Linseed oil is the binder in oil paint, and acrylic polymer emulsion is the binder in acrylic paint)

Collage

The technique of fixing flat materials sampled from the real world onto the flat surface of a painting, in such a way that they are incorporated into the space of the image.

Figure and Ground

The theory that any articulate visual field (a field in which a shape appears) must have at least two features; a salient portion called figure (which is what is focused on) and a distinct portion called ground (behind or surrounding the figure). In a very general sense, all works of art are simple modulations of figure - ground relationships

Saturation

The varying degrees color intensity (Prismatic, Muted, Chromatic Gray, and Achromatic Gray).

value

The varying degrees of light and dark, as determined by the amount of light (luminosity) reflecting off of a surface.

Solvent

The vehicle used in oil paints to break down the oil medium, and improve fluidity. We use Odorless Mineral Spirits (OMS) because of the relatively lower impact on health. Traditional solvents include tu rpentine, which is a highly volatile and dangerous substance, not allowed in our studio

Architecture of the Picture Plane

The visual structure of a two-dimensional composition, seen in the rhythm and repetition of implied lines, shapes and edges, which govern how the eye of the viewer moves through a pictorial space. Google Cezanne and Diebenkorn for image examples

Unit-Forming Factors

Those tendencies of human perception by which we can anticipate which parts or features of a field will be seen as belonging together and which will be seen as belonging apart. The unit-forming factors are synonymous with the principles of perceptual organization, most of which can be reduced to the principle of similarity.

desaturated color mixture

To create a ___________ ___________ __________, one should mix two compliments together (mix colors from opposite sides of the color wheel).

Push and Pull

To create an illusion of space in a painting, one should model with mixtures of warm colors and cool colors. This is based on the observation that in nature, cool colors are dominant in objects viewed from a distance, and warm colors are dominant in objects that are close to the viewer.

Ambiguous Figures

Various types of "puzzle pictures" in which two or more dispositional meanings are contained within one space. Most often, when viewed at a distance, these pictures appear to be one kind of object, but when examined more closely, they are comprised of other things, for example, a representation of a human face made by juxtaposing various fruits and vegetables. They are a type of visual pun.

Chromatic Grays

Very subtle color mixtures that have been almost completely neutralized by a compliment, white or black.

Stippling with a Sponge

You can also stipple with a small, round sponge — synthetic ones will produce a more regular pattern. For small areas, make a stippling tool by wrapping a piece of sponge or foam rubber round the end of a paintbrush. This will give you greater control over the technique. Moisten the sponge and dip it into fairly stiff paint, then apply with a press-and-lift motion—don't scrub.

Sighting

a drawing method, where the artist utilizes a straight edge to measure the proportions of a stimulus.

Paint

a fluid material consisting of colored pigments mixed with a binder, which dries as a film.

blending

a gradual mixing of two colors or value together to create a gradient, or in order to model the progression of values in a form.

Wet into Wet

a painting technique that allows the painter to create mixtures of c olor and value, directly on the painting, as the painter is applying wet color to a still - wet surface.

imprimatura

a toned ground can be a neutral gray or earth color, or it can give a generalized idea of the overall color scheme of the subject — a pinkish tone under an evening sky, for example. It can also be a color which is near - complementary to the finished color scheme. For example, a warm undertone of burnt sienna will have a vitalizing effect on a cool green land scape

Alkyd Medium

an oil painting medium made from an oil- modified resin treated with alcohol and acid (alc-id=alkyd) , which dries quickly using evaporation, and speeds the drying time of oil paint. Works well for creating glazes. Liquin and Galkyd are two brands of alkyd medium.

Drying Oil

an oil that hardens to a tough, solid film after a period of exposure to air. The oil hardens through a chemical reaction in which the components crosslink (and hence, polymerize) by the action of oxidation (not through the evaporation of water or other solvents) .

wet-in-wet

colors are applied over or into each other while they are wet, leaving them partially mixed on the canvas or paper. It is one of the most satisfying methods to work with, producing both lively color mixtures and softly blended effects. Because the colors don't quite blend together, the result is soft and hazy, often with a slight feeling of mystery. In landscape painting, for example, the line where the sky meets the horizon should be b lended wet - in - wet. This lends a sense of space and atmosphere, encouraging the eye to sense that there is something yet unseen over the horizon. In contrast, a hard edge along the horizon looks flat and unsympathetic. Wet - in - wet is also a quick, spontaneo us method, often used in ALLA PRIMA painting. The Impressionists — notably Monet (1840 - 1926), Pissarro (1830 - 1903) and Sisley (1839 - 99) — often overpainted or SCUMBLED over a wet underlayer when trying to capture the fleeting effects of light on their subject.

Disposition

he construction of works of art in which regard is given to their symbolic, representational,or pictorial significance. The term is not commonly used in this sense. It is synonymous with picture-making in the broadest meaning of that term. Works in which the disposition of subject matter has been disproportionately emphasized, with little or no regard for composition, are often disdained by artists as being merely illustrative.

Similarity Grouping

he theory that things which look alike will tend to be seen as belonging together (which produces unity) and those which are dissimilar will be seen as belonging apart (which produces variety). However, no two things are inherently similar or different, since sorting depends on attention and which attributes are stressed.

Figure/Ground relationship

in painting refers to the images (figure) and the area behind or around them (ground)

Methodology

in visual art, the study of on es own methods of making.

opaque ground color

large areas of this color can be left exposed because they will be quite permanent. The ground color then becomes an integral part of the painting, just as a tinted paper is in a pastel painting

Acrylic

may be quick-drying, but this property does not rule out the possibility of working with it using the wet-in-wet technique. For example, tube color heavily diluted with water behaves very like watercolor, creating soft, blurred strokes. If you require a greater degree of control, dilute the paint with matte medium and perhaps some retarder

Composition

structure of a painting. It is the visual balance of all of the elements in the picture plane. Caravaggio's painting The Crucifixion of St. Peter uses an "S" shaped curve to create a dynamic ___________.

Opacity

the degree to which one can see through a paint body. Opaque paint layers do not allow light to penetrate the surface, so that the previous layers are not visible.

Matte

the character of a dried paint surface that has a low sheen, and appears flat.

Peaking

the raised, high - relief character of a mark.

Vehicle

the substance that improves fluidity in a painting medium by breaking down the binder (solvents are the vehicle for oil paint, water is the vehicle for acrylic paint).

stippling

the technique where colors, tones, and textures are built up randomly with a mosaic of fine dots applied with the tip of a small, pointed brush. Stippling can also be used to provide texture or tone in small areas, alon gside or on top of a wash. In a beach scene, for instance, a few stippled marks can be used to suggest small stones and pebbles. 18 Stippling works well with all media, including pastel (when the stick has been sharpened to a point) and is particularly suite d to egg tempera painting. It is a fairly demanding technique, requiring plenty of patience, but the results are usually well worth the effort, especially when two or more colors are used together to create scintillating color effects. With stippling, you can achieve beautiful, subtle gradations of tone simply by varying the density of the dots: a dense concentration creates a darker or more solid tone, whereas a light tone is the result of leaving bigger spaces between the dots. Because each dot is separ ate, the colors appear to shimmer and sparkle when viewed from a distance. This is due to the way in which tiny dots of color vibrate on the retina of the eye. In addition, the color of the ground plays a part in the overall effect, serving as a dark, midd le, or light tone.

Pop Art

uses images from everyday ads, products, and popular culture.