Descriptionary

canvas the heavy fabric or linen on which oil paint­ings are painted after it is primed.

charcoal a black marker made of charred wood and used for drawing and creating special effects by smudging.

charcoal paper a paper with a grain that holds charcoal well.

chassis the framework that holds an artist's canvas.

chisel brush a straight-edged brush with a beveled tip, like a chisel, used for sign writing.

compass an adjustable instrument with two hinged legs, used for describing perfect circles or arcs.

crayon any drawing material in stick form.

dagger striper a brush having long hairs that taper to a sharp point, used for striping.

earth colors paint pigments derived from colored clays and rocks. Also known as mineral pigments.

easel a freestanding framework or support that holds an artist's canvas during painting.

ellipse guide a template that aids in the drawing of ovals or ellipses.

enamel a vitreous protective and/or decorative coat­ing baked on metal, glass, or ceramics.

fan brush a flat, fan-shaped brush used for blending and creating wispy effects.

filbert brush an oval-ended bristle brush used in oil painting.

fitch brush a brush made from the hair of a polecat. Also, a chisel brush made of bristle and used in sign painting.

fixative a fluid sprayed over pastels and drawings to help prevent smudging.

flag the free end of a brush; opposite of the base.

fluorescent paint paints with a particularly lumi­nous quality, especially after being exposed to ultra­violet light; Day-Glo.

French curve a scroll-like, plastic template used as a guide for ruling curves.

highliner a long-bristled, square-ended brush used for lettering and striping.

lay figure a jointed mannequin that substitutes for a human model in art study.

lettering brush a wide, square-ended brush made of red sable, camel hair, or ox hair and used for lettering or making clean lines.

mahlstick a short rod used by a painter to steady his hand or brush while executing delicate detail work.

mop a large camel hair brush used with watercolors.

mordant an acid mixture used in producing etchings.

oil colors pigments that have been ground with oil.

painting knives a family of thin, flexible knives used in painting and preferred by some artists over brushes.

palette an oval board or tablet with a hand grip and thumb hole, on which a painter lays out and mixes paints.

palette knife a spatulalike knife used to mix oil paints.

panel a wood or wallboard panel sometimes used instead of a canvas for painting on.

pantograph an adjustable hinged-arm device used to trace, reduce or enlarge a drawing.

papier-mache a mixture of paper pulp and glue that can be molded into various shapes and painted when dried.

pastel a colored crayon made of pigment and chalk. Also known as pastille.

pate the clay from which ceramic pottery is formed.

potter's wheel a turntable on which pottery is formed.

pounce a powder made from charcoal or chalk used to transfer a drawing from one surface to another.

rigger a narrow, lettering brush.

single-stroke brush a broad brush used for creating broad washes with watercolors.

spatula a large painting knife used for mixing and stirring.

spotting brush a fine, red sable brush with a small point, used to retouch photos and lithographs.

stenciling brush a short, stiff, flat-ended brush used in stenciling.

striper a brush used for making delicate lines and stripes.

stump a cigar-shaped drawing tool made of rolled chamois or paper, used for making smudges and smoothing out tones.

taboret an artist's cabinet table for tools and mate­rials.

tempera pigment dispersed in an emulsion of egg yolk and water.

tessera a small piece of tile, glass, or stone used in creating a mosaic.

turning tools a family of spatulalike tools used to shape clay on a potter's wheel.

wash brush any broad brush used to paint washes with watercolors.

watercolors pigments dispersed in water instead of oils, characterized by a transparent quality.

photography

airbush a lab technique of creating or eliminating tone effects in a photo.

anaglyph a three-dimensional photo effect com­posed of a slightly contrasting dual image.

aperture the amount of opening in a lens; it controls the amount of light entering the camera.

artifact in digital images, an image distortion.

backlight to illuminate a subject from behind.

barrel distortion an aberration in a camera lens that causes abnormal curvature of square images in a photo.

beam combiner a two-way mirror that reflects light, allowing photos to be taken of the real and reflected image simultaneously.