20 The topic of this glossary is all the tools that an artist will need to create. terms
Hi, my name is Émile Riopel, and I've been studying visuals arts at Lionel-Groulx College for two years. I learn a lot of technique and method during these wonderful sessions. This year I will finish my pre-university program and I wanted to do this glossary to summarize all the material I used to attempt all of my projects.
acrylic paint
noun
Acrylic paint is a fast-drying paint made of pigment suspended in acrylic polymer emulsion and plasticizers, silicon oils, defoamers, stabilizers, or metal soaps. Acrylic paints are water-soluble, but become water-resistant when dry.
https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/drip-painting#:~:text=a%20technique%20of%20abstract%20painting,canvas%20placed%20on%20the%20floor
Example: The artist is putting acrylic paint on his palette.
en: peinture acrylique
artist spatula
noun.
Sometimes called a scraper, any tool with a blade that is somewhat flexible, but fairly rigid. It is generally used for modeling such soft materials as clay, paint, plaster, and wax. Its edge is not honed to the degree that it would cut or carve hard materials. Spatulas can be made in a variety of sizes, and typically of metal, plastic, wood, horn or seashell. Although their edges are often broad and straight or curved, scrapers with edges having other shapes (close to the contours of surfaces needing scraping) can be very useful. Historically among the oldest kinds of tools, spatulas are often used for removing materials from surfaces, for spreading or smoothing them.Also see chisel and palette knife.
https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/drip-painting#:~:text=a%20technique%20of%20abstract%20painting,canvas%20placed%20on%20the%20floor
https://freeartdictionary.com/definition/spatula/
Example: A painter used an artist spatula to mix his colours.
en: spatule d'artiste
brush holder
noun
A structure in which a brush can slide in a direction perpendicular to the moving surface of a motor, generator, or other device.
https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/drip-painting#:~:text=a%20technique%20of%20abstract%20painting,canvas%20placed%20on%20the%20floor
Example: The artist is putting his washed brush into his brush holder.
en: porte-pinceau
canvas
noun
A strong, coarse unbleached cloth made from hemp, flax, cotton, or a similar yarn, used to make items such as sails and tents and as a surface for oil painting.
https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/drip-painting#:~:text=a%20technique%20of%20abstract%20painting,canvas%20placed%20on%20the%20floor
Example: The artist is putting gesso with a cat's tongue brush on his new canvas.
en: toile
cat's tongue brush
noun
Its unusual shape lends itself to the name "Cat's Tongue." This brush is really three brushes in one. Paint with the point for fine lines, with the side for medium strokes, and with the flat side of the brush for washes and large areas.
https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/drip-painting#:~:text=a%20technique%20of%20abstract%20painting,canvas%20placed%20on%20the%20floor
Example: The painter used a cat's tongue brush on his canvas.
en: pinceau langue de chat
contrast of complementary
noun
Two colors are complementary if their pigments, mixed together produce a neutral gray-black. Physically, light of two complementary colors, mixed together, will yield white. Two such colors are a strange pair. They are opposite, they reequire each other.
https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/drip-painting#:~:text=a%20technique%20of%20abstract%20painting,canvas%20placed%20on%20the%20floor
Example: The painter is using contrast complementary.
en: contraste des complémentaires
dripping
noun
A technique of abstract painting exemplified chiefly in the latest works of Jackson Pollock and marked by the intricately executed dripping and pouring of the paint on a canvas placed on the floor.
https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/drip-painting#:~:text=a%20technique%20of%20abstract%20painting,canvas%20placed%20on%20the%20floor
Example: Jackson Pollock is dripping on his canvas.
en: égouttage
easel
noun
A self-supporting wooden frame for holding an artist's work while it is being painted or drawn
https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/drip-painting#:~:text=a%20technique%20of%20abstract%20painting,canvas%20placed%20on%20the%20floor.
Example: The canvas is on the easel for a long time.
en: chevalet
final varnish
noun
“Final varnish” is the liquid, protective coat that goes onto oils and acrylics. In a way it's the equivalent of fixative on pastels or glass on watercolours. Varnishes need to remain clear, and they need to be removable.
https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/drip-painting#:~:text=a%20technique%20of%20abstract%20painting,canvas%20placed%20on%20the%20floor
Example: The painter is putting the final varnish on his canvas.
en: vernis final
gesso
noun
A hard compound of plaster of Paris or whiting in glue, used in sculpture or as a base for gilding or painting on wood.
https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/drip-painting#:~:text=a%20technique%20of%20abstract%20painting,canvas%20placed%20on%20the%20floor
Example: The surface must first be given several coats of gesso.
en: gesso
glaze
noun
A glaze is a thin transparent or semi-transparent layer on a painting which modifies the appearance of the underlying paint layer. Glazes can change the chroma, value, hue and texture of a surface. Glazes consist of a great amount of binding medium in relation to a very small amount of pigment.
https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/drip-painting#:~:text=a%20technique%20of%20abstract%20painting,canvas%20placed%20on%20the%20floor
Example: The artist is putting a dark glaze to create a shadow.
en: glacis
heavy duty stapler
noun
Heavy duty staplers are widely used in government, business, offices, work places. Their primary operating function is to join large numbers of paper sheets together in rapid succession. Heavy duty staplers are popular with printing and publishing firms.
https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/drip-painting#:~:text=a%20technique%20of%20abstract%20painting,canvas%20placed%20on%20the%20floor
Example: The artist is fixing a sheet of paper on the wall with a heavy duty stapler.
en: agrafeuse robuste
mahlstick
noun
A mahlstick, or maulstick, is a stick with a soft leather or padded head used by painters to support the hand holding the paintbrush. The word derives from the German and Dutch Malstock or maalstok 'painter's stick', from malen 'to paint'.
https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/drip-painting#:~:text=a%20technique%20of%20abstract%20painting,canvas%20placed%20on%20the%20floor
Example: The artist is putting his arms on the mahlstack to support his arms above the canvas.
en: appuie-main
oil painting
noun
Oil painting, painting in oil colours, a medium consisting of pigments suspended in drying oils. The outstanding facility with which fusion of tones or colour is achieved makes it unique among fluid painting mediums; at the same time, satisfactory linear treatment and crisp effects are easily obtained
https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/drip-painting#:~:text=a%20technique%20of%20abstract%20painting,canvas%20placed%20on%20the%20floor
Example: The artist is using oil painting instead of acrylic paint.
en: peinture à l'huile
palette
noun
A thin oval or rectangular board or tablet that a painter holds and mixes pigments on.
https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/drip-painting#:~:text=a%20technique%20of%20abstract%20painting,canvas%20placed%20on%20the%20floor
Example: The artist is mixing his colours on a wood palette.
en: palette
pochade
noun
A pochade (from French poche, pocket) is a type of sketch used in painting. As opposed to a croquis, which is line art, a pochade captures the colors and atmosphere of a scene. Generally, pochades use a small, portable format.
https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/drip-painting#:~:text=a%20technique%20of%20abstract%20painting,canvas%20placed%20on%20the%20floor
Example: The artist is making a pochade before starting on the real canvas.
en: pochade
primary colors
noun
Primary colors include yellow, blue, and red. These are colors that can't be created by mixing of other colors. Instead, they combine to create secondary colors, which in turn combine to create tertiary colors. In effect, all colors stem from the three primaries.
https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/drip-painting#:~:text=a%20technique%20of%20abstract%20painting,canvas%20placed%20on%20the%20floor
Example: The artist is making green and orange with his primary colors.
en: couleurs primaires
spray paint
noun
Paint that is contained in an aerosol can for the purpose of spraying onto a surface.
https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/drip-painting#:~:text=a%20technique%20of%20abstract%20painting,canvas%20placed%20on%20the%20floor
Example: The artist is using a spray paint to create a blurry background.
en: bombe de peinture
stencil brush
noun
A stencil brush is a specialist brush with short, firmly packed bristles. These types of brushes are available in various widths, from small, for tiny, detailed sections, to large ones for faster painting. They're used in a straight up-and-down pouncing motion, rather than a long swoop side to side or up and down.
https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/drip-painting#:~:text=a%20technique%20of%20abstract%20painting,canvas%20placed%20on%20the%20floor
Example: The painter is making circles of different colours with his stencil brush.
en: pinceau à pochoir
watercolor
noun
Artists' paint made with a water-soluble binder such as gum arabic, and thinned with water rather than oil, giving a transparent color.
https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/drip-painting#:~:text=a%20technique%20of%20abstract%20painting,canvas%20placed%20on%20the%20floor
Example: The artist is making a portrait with watercolor.
