Life Style / Painting Glossary

Nailhead Rusting: Rust from iron nails that penetrates or bleeds through the coating and stains the surrounding areas.

Nap: The length of fibers in a paint roller cover.

Negative Space: The areas of an artwork that are NOT the primary subject or object. Negative Space defines the subject by implication. See Positive Space, Notan, Gestalt

Neutral Color: A color without definite identification.

Nocturne: A night scene.

Non-Staining Colors: Pigments that can be lifted cleanly (wet or re-wet) with little or no discoloration of the underlying paper fibers.

Nonvolatile: The portion of paint left after the solvent evaporates; sometimes called the solids content.

Notan: A Japanese art/compositional term meaning 'Dark-Light'. It's the interplay of dark and light, positive and negative, and the implications of all opposites balancing harmoniously as one, in c . . . View Full Definition

Oil Stains: There are two types of oil stains, penetrating and non-penetrating. Penetrating oil stains contain dyes and resins that penetrate the surface; non-penetrating oil stains contain larger amoun . . . View Full Definition

Oil-Based Paint: Any paint made with a drying oil, such as linseed, soya or tung oil. With oil based paints you must use mineral spirits or paint thinner as the thinning agent.

Oil-Painting: This technique was not suddenly invented; the story that accredits its invention to the Van Eyck brothers is incorrect, although they did much to help the evolution of the new medium. Previo . . . View Full Definition

Oils: Painters have used an extraordinary variety of oils in their efforts to attain the perfect personal paint consistency and working quality. The chief oil for oil-paints today is linseed, alth . . . View Full Definition

Opacity: The ability of a paint to hide the previous surface or color.

Opaque: A paint that is not transparent by nature or intentionally. A dense paint that obscures or totally hides the underpainting in any given artwork. See Gouache, Acrylics

Opaque Coating: A coating that hides the previous surface coating.

Opaque Stain: An exterior stain that obscures the natural color and grain of wood, but still allows the texture to show through.

Orange Peel: Film having the roughness of an orange due to poor roller or spray application.

Ox Gall: Derived from the bile of domestic cows or other bovines, ox gall is added to paint as a surfactant or wetting agent to allow paint to flow more freely.

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