Acrylic A clear plastic used as a vehicle in paints and as a casting material in sculpture. Noted for its quick drying and luminosity.

Charcoal A drawing pencil or crayon made from a black, porous carbonaceous material. Also, charred twigs of willow or vine used by artists because of the various degrees of value achieved when the charcoal is smudged. Collage A picture built up wholly or partly from pieces of paper, cloth, or other material stuck on to the canvas or other ground.

Conté A proprietary name for synthetic black, red or brown chalk. Nicolas Conté invented the modern lead pencil.

Egg tempera A water-base paint made with egg yolk binder.

Encaustic Paint made from pigment mixed with melted wax and fixed by heat after application on the surface.

Fresco (Ital. fresh) Wall-painting on plaster with a water-based medium. True fresco (buon fresco) is one of the most permanent forms of wall decoration because the pigment is applied while the plaster is still damp.

Glazing The process of applying a transparent layer of oil paint over a solid one so that the color of the first is profoundly modified.

Gold leaf (Also Silver leaf) Gold (or silver) beaten into extremely thin sheets; used for gilding.

Impasto The application of thick layers of paint. When paint is so heavily applied that it stands up with the tracks of the brush evident, it is 'heavily impasted'.

Naïve art An art form going back centuries through Chagall and Rousseau to peasant art and primitive art. A childlike, primitive depiction of life.

Oil A paint in which a drying oil is the vehicle. Oil color is more easily mixed than acrylic color.

Pastel A combination of pure pigment and binder forming permanent-colored sticks; noted for colors which go from soft to brilliant. When the ground is completely covered with pigment, the work is considered a pastel painting; leaving much of the ground exposed produces a pastel sketch.

Plein air (Fr. open air) Referring to landscapes painted out of doors with the intention of catching the impression of the open air.

Watercolor A painting compound of water-soluble pigment:

transparent: paint which acts like stain, producing additional colors when one is painted over another; white is produced by the paper's white surface.

gouache: opaque watercolors where white is produced by the application of pigment.

Originally appeared in
The Collector’s Guide to Santa Fe and Taos - Volume 11