Life Style / Painting Glossary

Foreshortening: The technique of representing a three dimensional image in two dimensions using the laws of perspective.

Form: Broadly speaking, the way a picture welds together; in a narrow sense, it is the way a shape has been rendered or seen.

Foxing: The development of patterns of brown or yellow splotches (stains) on old paper. Caused by a type of mold, foxing is often removed by treating with diluted bleach.

Fresco: An art started by Minoan and other early civilizations. In antiquity they had the idea of painting fairly small portable frescoes. Some of these have been found in Crete and date from about . . . View Full Definition

Frottage: The process of making rubbings rhrough paper of objects or textures underneath. Brass-rubbing is frottage. Max Ernst was one Surrealist who explored the idea, he was seeking to find some vis . . . View Full Definition

Frottis: Thin transparent or semi-transparent glazes rubbed into the ground in the intitial phases of an oil painting. From the French term 'frotter', meaning 'to rub'.

Fugitive Colors: The pigments in the 'fugitive' class of paints have the unfortunate characteristic of looking beautiful and unique when first painted but show bad side-effects over time. Side effects includ . . . View Full Definition

Fungicide: An agent the helps prevent mold or mildew growth on paint.

Futurism: A now defunct movement associated with Italian Fascism. A term often erroneously applied to anything new or old.

Galvanized: A thin coating of zinc that covers iron or steel to prevent rust.

Genre: A category of artistic work marked by a particular specified form, technique, or content.

Gesso: In the broad sense it is a mixture of a plaster or like substance and a glue. Its purpose was to present the painter with a smooth, hard, white ground on which to paint. Owing to its hard br . . . View Full Definition

Gestalt: Gestalt theory states that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Creating effective designs depends on creating and balancing gestalt. Originally a therapeutic psychological theory . . . View Full Definition

Giclees: Editioned prints made with high resolution ink jet printers using pigmented inks and archival, artist-grade papers. Lightfast ratings close to original paintings. Go to Giclee Art Links Page.

Glass: The support for back painting. It is important that it should be reasonably stout; plate glass is best, and it should be of a good quality so that there will be no distortions in the glass t . . . View Full Definition

Glaze: Applied to painting media, the term glazing means the laying of a transparent colour over previously laid and dried-out pigments, that may be opaque or transparent. With water-glazing only w . . . View Full Definition

Glazed Wash: Any transparent wash of color laid over a dry, previously painted area. Used to adjust color, value, or intensity of underlying painting. (Glaze)

Glazing Compound: Putty used to set glass in window frames and to fill nail holes and cracks.

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