Life Style / Painting Glossary

Paint Brushes: The first known examples are probably those used in Egypt which were simple bundles of thin reeds bound to a handle; the British Museum has one of these and its date is put at about 1900 BCE . . . View Full Definition

Paint Gauge: Instrument for measuring the thickness of paint film.

Paint Remover: A compound that softens old paint or varnish and permits scraping off the loosened material.

Painting Knives: Both of these are made of fine tempered steel that is flexible. The palette-knife has a straight handle and is intended for mixing colours on the palette or for cleaning it. The painting-kni . . . View Full Definition

Palette: Essential for colour-painting, an artist's palette refers to (1) The instrument the artist mixes his colours on. This may be a traditional mahogany, or other wood, as a rectangular shape or . . . View Full Definition

Pantograph: An instrument for reducing or enlarging designs or sketches, that uses a simple system of levers; known since the 17th century.

Paper: A substance produced from wood-pulp, rags or other material with fibres. It is thought that the art of making paper started in China with Tsai-lun about CE 105. It is likely that the inventi . . . View Full Definition

Papyrus: A form of paper made by the early Egyptians. It was made from the reed Cyperus papyrus; strips of the reed were laid over each other, then they were soaked with water and pounded, lastly bei . . . View Full Definition

Parchment: Animal skins that have been treated by scraping, use of lime to remove hair, and rubbing. Skins of sheep, pigs, goats have been used. For vellum those of young calves or still-born lambs are . . . View Full Definition

Pastels: A method of painting or drawing with sticks of dry colour which have the minimum of binder; a reason why pastel pictures keep their bright fresh look almost indefinitely. The main danger for . . . View Full Definition

Patching Plaster: A special plaster made for repairing plaster walls.

Peeling: Detachment of a dried paint film in relatively large pieces, usually caused by moisture or grease under the painted surface.

Pen: The English word, the French equivalent, plume, and the German, Peder, originally meant a wing-feather. St Isidore of Seville in the 7th century writes about a quill-pen. The hand-cut quill, . . . View Full Definition

Pencil: Graphite wooden jacketed pencils as are known today date from the end of the 17th century when there was a prosperous British business in the north country and when, as Sir John Pettus comme . . . View Full Definition

Pentimento: A reappearance of a design, a drawing or a picture that has been painted over; It is a phenomenon particularly associated with oils. It is caused by the medium or vehicle with the overpainti . . . View Full Definition

Permeable: Allows another material to pass through without effecting the existing material.

Perspective: Representing three-dimensional volumes and space in two dimensions in a manner that imitates depth, height and width as seen with stereoscopic eyes.

Pigment In Paint: For details of lakes, glazes and other artist-colourants, see: Colour Pigments, History, Types.

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