Welcome to ArtLandUSA's Art Terminology
Just a few thoughts on how our artists create wonderful artworks.
They use Color: Produced when light strikes an object and then reflects back to the eyes. An element of art with three properties: (1) hue or tint, the color names, e.g., red, yellow, blue, etc.: (2) intensity, the purity and strength of a color, e.g., bright red or dull red; and (3) value, the lightness or darkness of a color. When the spectrum is organized as a color wheel, the colors are divided into groups called primary, secondary and intermediate colors; and also as warm and cool colors. Colors can be objectively described as saturated, clear, cool, warm, subdued, grayed, tawny, mat, glossy, monochrome, multicolored, particolored, variegated or polychromed.
They have Creativity: The ability or power to create. Productivity with originality and expressive qualities; imagination; newness.
They Design: A plan, or to plan. The organization or composition of a work; the skilled arrangement of its parts. An effective design is one in which the elements of art and principles or design have been combined to achieve an overall sense of unity. Also, the production of attractive and well crafted functional objects. Subcategories of the design arts include: architecture, bonsai, fashion design, furniture design, graphic design, ikebana, industrial design, interior design, landscape architecture, stagecraft, textile design, and web page design. (Artlex April 7, 2001)
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Painting Techniques ... Printmaking ... Sculpture
Painting Techniques
Acrylic Paints: An emulsion (a mixture of two liquids, one being distributed in the form of minute droplets throughout the other, with which it does not mix. An example is Tempera (a mixture of fatty and watery constituents), paint using a synthetic medium, acrylic resin, now frequently used by artists as a quicker-drying substitue for true oil paint.
Airbrushing: A method of painting by means of a small, finely controllable mechanical paint sprayer.
Ecorche: A drawing or sculpture, either of a human figure or an animal, where the skin has been stripped off to show the working of the muscles.
Oil Paints: Paint made with pigments (coloring agents) bound with drying oils (fatty oils of vegetable origin which are of major importance in oil painting as a medium for pigment, because they harden into a solid, transparent substance on exposure to air. They also serve as a binder, fixing the pigment to the ground. The chief drying oils are linseed, walnut and poppy.
* See Fidel Rodriguez for examples of this style.
Pastels: Dry pigment bound with gum and used in stick form for drawing. A fixative is used to make it adhere to the ground (a surface specially prepared for painting. A ground can also be any basic material used for a wide variety of works: example: metal can be used for enamelling).
Water Color Paints: Watersoluble pigments, combined with water soluble gum as a binder, and water as a medium, used to make transparent paint.
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Painting Techniques ... Printmaking ... Sculpture
Printmaking Techniques and Practices
A La Poupee: In Intaglio printing, the printing of several colors at one time by applying each color to the plate separately with a felt pad.
Aquatint: Aquatint is similar to etching but uses sprinkled grains of heated resin instead of varnish for the ground. Aquatint creates fields of tone, not line. the seldom-used "sugar-left" method allows the artist to paint or draw freely and swiftly with a brush directly on the metal plate.
* See Rita Galle for examples of this style.
Artist's Proofs: The fine art prints that are made when the rest of the edition is printed but are reserved for the artist's personal use. Typically, 10% of the edition size is reserved for Artist's Proofs, and they are always designed with an "A/P" or similar notation in lieu of a print and edition number designation.
Burin:A tool used in engraving or incising metal plates and in carving stone. A knoblike wooden handle which holds a metal shaft having a sharp bevelled point with one size of several possible shapes, either flat, round, multiple, or elliptical. Also called a graver.
Burr: In engraving and drypoint, the ridges of metal plowed up by a burin, or graver, or needle, on the surface of a metal plate. In a line engraving the burr is removed with a scraper to produce a clean line; in drypoint it is not removed, in order to produce the soft, blurred effect typical of that technique.
Chine Colle': Collage technique used in Intaglio printing whereby a (usually thinner) piece of paper is adhered to a heavier piece of paper and printed together. With a very thin coat of methyl cellulose or rice paste or pva on the back, the thin paper is positioned face down on the plate, the heavier paper then placed on top and they are run through the press.
Collagraph: Is a print made by running the inked plate covered by a damp paper through the press. The plate is created with a collage of various materials to obtain an image with the required textures. The work is usually one-of-a-kind prints because of the manner of applying the ink in random and blotter fashion with a so-called A La Poupee and use of Chine Colle' with a highly textured background.
* See Fernando Pomalaza for examples of this style.
Drypoint: A Drypoint is made with a needle that scratches into a metal plate, raising tiny ridges that also catch ink. When the plate is printed, the ridges produce a velvet-like burr.
Engraving: An engraving is made with a burin that directly cuts lines into a metal plate. The burin is an angled square-headed tool that should be kept sharp.
Etching: In etching, a metal plate is covered with a ground, usually varnish, through which the image is drawn with a pointed tool, exposing the metal below. The plate is then immersed in acid that bites away the exposed parts no longer protected by the ground. After the plate has been bitten and washed with water, it is ready to be inked and printed.
Giclee (zhee-clay): Printed artwork in which waterbased inks are applied to paper using a precise digital capture of the image. Giclee prints are known for their deep, saturated colors and the detail they capture.
Intaglio Printing: In the Intaglio process, lines of an image to be printed on paper are cut or etched into the surface of a flat metal plate. The surface of the metal plate is inked and then wiped, and the incisions retain the ink. The plate, placed on a sheet of paper is "pulled" through a press, is printed. Since the metal is usually smaller than the sheet, the rectangular outline of the impressed plate is marked on the paper. Engraving, Drypoint, Etching and Aquatint are techniques of Intaglio printmaking.
* See Claudio Juarez for examples of this style.
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Painting Techniques ... Printmaking ... Sculpture
The Letterpress (Iron Hand Press):
Is a method of printing from a hard, raised surface (a press) for relief printing from metal type, raised surfaces formed from wood, metal or linoleum, photopolymer type of plates where the background area has been etched away. This is also known as relief printing. Ink is applied to these raised areas, which can be lines, type characters and dots of illustration, and then transferred directly to the paper substrate. No fountain or dampening solution is used with this printing method.
Letterpress was the predominant printing method until the early 1960's when it was replaced by other printing methods, mostly offset printing.
The idea of the printing press was first invented by Johannes Gutenberg in the early 1450's and reached its highest development in the Washington and Albion presses where the application of the principle of the lever to the Albion press was added to these presses.
The Albion Press, invented by R.W. Cope of London, was popular in England and was a famous design of handpress. It has a style of hand-operated horizontal platen press: sliding bed and hand-inked.
Many Albion presses were made in England, France, Germany, Belgium. The press shown by clicking here was made in Monza, Italy by Norberto Abizzoni in 1862 and is still in perfect working condition today.
* See Raphael Fodde for books printed on this press.
Limited Edition: An edition, having a maxiumum number of prints that can ever be made. A collection of identical prints that are numbered in succession. The total number of prints in the edition size is fixed prior to printing. Typically, the prints are made and numbered in succession, with the designation of any given print and size of the edition size and the number of that particular print are recorded together, such as 15/200 (e.g., print number 15 out of an edition size of 200).
Lithograph: Print artwork that is based upon the water-repellent properties of oil-based inks. Lithography involved applying these inks to a dampened image-bearing plate that is then pressed onto paper. Each color seen in the final work has a unique plate associated with it.
Serigraphy: Print artwork that is created by the art of pressing inks through finely woven silk screens. Each color seen in the final work has a unique and separate screen associated with it or is created by layering multiple inks to achieve an exact color.
Serigraphy with Hand Cut 3D Construction:
Robert Turano used a master which consisted of hand drawn Mylar plates and printing screens, one for each color. The artist furnished color indications to the printer. 14 separate screens were cut. Proofs were pulled and the artist made corrections. The entire edition was then pulled one color at a time. Each piece was done on Coventry 100% Rag White Velum, 330 grams, and 1/8". These are limited editions with a total number of 399, numbers 1 to 399.
* See Robert Turano or Serigraphs for examples of this style.
Woodcut: Print made from a carved woodblock; the image or design is created by the surface not cut away, otherwise known as the "relief". This raised surface is inked and when pressed against the paper, the ink is transferred, which leaves an impression.
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Painting Techniques ... Printmaking ... Sculpture
Sculpture Techniques and Practices
Direct Stone Carving Method: You look at the properties and dimensions of the stone. Sometimes color (veining) is a factor.>br>
1) remove the "skin" of the stone and impurities
2) as you go into the stone you get to understand the properties of the stone
3) the drawing board: draw a number of designs to find a design to fit the stone. Sometimes the stone dictates the design and as you get into the stone it starts to take shape.
4) You refine the images of the shape of the stone using an accumulation of planning and the nature of the stone.
5) Finishing the stone is done, sometimes polished, sometimes kept raw.
* See Juan Jucalam for examples of this method.
Lost Wax Method:
The Bronze Casting Process Using Lost Wax Method (One Casting):
1) make a drawing
2) clay model
3) mold (usually rubber, sometimes plaster)
4) a wax or plaster from the mold is casted
5) then the wax is retouched
6) brought to a foundry where it is "gated" (pipe work for wax to escape and bronze to enter).The wax is put into a investment material (molded into) (1 part plaster silica & 1 udo) then add water to liquify. The wax is put in the center and allowed to harden then burnt out. The mold is now free of wax and replaced with liquified bronze and allowed to solidify. Once it cools down the mold is broken and remove the bronze. Then the piece is cleaned, the vents cut off and finished by hand. The final stage is patina.
Stone: The stone used is taken from various countries, from quarries, hand selected for the unique color.
We hope these "terms" have helped you understand the diverse techniques used to create wonderful works of art.
If you have a question concerning anything about art,
please email us at info@artlandusa.com
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