This is a new online glossary of painting terms. More to come!
Alkyd (“Call me Al, kid”)
Oil Painting
Alkyds are synthetic resin replacements for slow drying natural oils. When added to oil paint they speed up the drying time. Examples: Liquin, Galkyd, and many more. Some paints like Quick Dry White, Gamblin FastMatte, and W&N Griffin Paints have alkyds replacing the oil in the tube, resulting in a faster drying paint.
Alla Prima (All-uh Pree-mah) Oil & Acrylic Painting (Mostly Oil)
This is an Italian phrase that means “at the first attempt” so describes a painting created entirely in one sitting. Alla Prima is also called “wet-on-wet” because nothing has time to dry, and wet paint is worked over wet paint. Fresh wins the alla prima challenge, as overworking makes mud. You cannot glaze an alla prima painting.
Baroque painters who painted alla prima are Diego Velázquez and Frans Hals. In the Rococo era, artists such as Jean-Honoré Fragonard, Francesco Guardi, and Thomas Gainsborough were appreciated for their boldness. The most famous American Renaissance alla prima painter was John Singer Sargent.
Bloom Oil Painting
Dull white cloudy look on oil varnish in damp conditions.
Bloom Watercolor Painting
A bloom is formed when an area with more wet watercolor spreads into an area with less, resulting in a pattern of color.
[caption id=”attachment_2626″ align=”aligncenter” width=”794 Elizabeth Tyler
Blocking in
Oil & Acrylic Painting
The first steps after the sketch, in which areas of flat color are applied to the whole canvas. The paint is usually thin so this layer dries quickly and can be easily painted over. Most of this layer will be covered, and so blocking in is usually a fast process, best done with a big brush. Some artists start with value, and apply one single color. For single colors, some choose a neutral earth color like a burnt umber. Others choose a complimentary color like orange for a landscape that will be mostly greys, blues and greens. Other artists block each area in with multiple colors, like a patchwork quilt.
Monotypes are like a painter’s sketch, run through the press. They’re both more immediate, and more re-workable than any other form of printmaking. Once through the press, you can draw or paint on it, or you can do something else and run it through again. It’s instant, and it’s surprising. Every time I do it …
The Seattle Artist League is excited to announce the prizes for this year’s Portrait Awards. These artworks were chosen out of 151 entries, from 72 artists. Media was mostly paintings and drawings, with a few mixed media and prints. All were completed within 2021 or early 2022. “It was an honour and a delight to see such …
[image_with_animation image_url=”8555″ alignment=”” animation=”None” box_shadow=”none” max_width=”100%”] Yesterday I talked about Joseph Cornell, and how he didn’t consider himself an artist, but felt he was a collector, and a maker of things. I like to think sometimes I make things. Contrary to my website, I avoid calling myself an artist. Doing so can be validating, but …
The Nancy Margolis Gallery in NY is currently displaying “Midnight Sun”, an exhibition by Seattle Artist League instructor Charity Baker. The show features figurative landscapes in both small scale plein-air and large scale studio paintings. The collection aims to examine the psychological effects of perpetual sunlight. Yearning to reconnect with nature during the global pandemic, …
Glossary of Painting Terms
This is a new online glossary of painting terms. More to come!
Alkyd (“Call me Al, kid”)
Oil Painting
Alkyds are synthetic resin replacements for slow drying natural oils. When added to oil paint they speed up the drying time. Examples: Liquin, Galkyd, and many more. Some paints like Quick Dry White, Gamblin FastMatte, and W&N Griffin Paints have alkyds replacing the oil in the tube, resulting in a faster drying paint.
Alla Prima (All-uh Pree-mah)
Oil & Acrylic Painting (Mostly Oil)
This is an Italian phrase that means “at the first attempt” so describes a painting created entirely in one sitting. Alla Prima is also called “wet-on-wet” because nothing has time to dry, and wet paint is worked over wet paint. Fresh wins the alla prima challenge, as overworking makes mud. You cannot glaze an alla prima painting.
Baroque painters who painted alla prima are Diego Velázquez and Frans Hals. In the Rococo era, artists such as Jean-Honoré Fragonard, Francesco Guardi, and Thomas Gainsborough were appreciated for their boldness. The most famous American Renaissance alla prima painter was John Singer Sargent.
Bloom
Oil Painting
Dull white cloudy look on oil varnish in damp conditions.
Bloom
Watercolor Painting
A bloom is formed when an area with more wet watercolor spreads into an area with less, resulting in a pattern of color.
[caption id=”attachment_2626″ align=”aligncenter” width=”794
Elizabeth Tyler
Blocking in
Oil & Acrylic Painting
The first steps after the sketch, in which areas of flat color are applied to the whole canvas. The paint is usually thin so this layer dries quickly and can be easily painted over. Most of this layer will be covered, and so blocking in is usually a fast process, best done with a big brush. Some artists start with value, and apply one single color. For single colors, some choose a neutral earth color like a burnt umber. Others choose a complimentary color like orange for a landscape that will be mostly greys, blues and greens. Other artists block each area in with multiple colors, like a patchwork quilt.
Terry Miura, blocked in
Related Posts
Some Monotypes
Monotypes are like a painter’s sketch, run through the press. They’re both more immediate, and more re-workable than any other form of printmaking. Once through the press, you can draw or paint on it, or you can do something else and run it through again. It’s instant, and it’s surprising. Every time I do it …
Announcing: The Seattle Artist League Portrait Awards for 2022
The Seattle Artist League is excited to announce the prizes for this year’s Portrait Awards. These artworks were chosen out of 151 entries, from 72 artists. Media was mostly paintings and drawings, with a few mixed media and prints. All were completed within 2021 or early 2022. “It was an honour and a delight to see such …
“Mixed media”
[image_with_animation image_url=”8555″ alignment=”” animation=”None” box_shadow=”none” max_width=”100%”] Yesterday I talked about Joseph Cornell, and how he didn’t consider himself an artist, but felt he was a collector, and a maker of things. I like to think sometimes I make things. Contrary to my website, I avoid calling myself an artist. Doing so can be validating, but …
Charity Baker “Midnight Sun”
The Nancy Margolis Gallery in NY is currently displaying “Midnight Sun”, an exhibition by Seattle Artist League instructor Charity Baker. The show features figurative landscapes in both small scale plein-air and large scale studio paintings. The collection aims to examine the psychological effects of perpetual sunlight. Yearning to reconnect with nature during the global pandemic, …