Art Glossary & Vocabulary: M - R
Learning what words mean as they are applied to art can be an tremendous help in learning how to paint and about the world of art in general. The list of art vocabulary words and their definitions included in this art dictionary is in no way exhaustive. This will be an ongoing lesson as new terms and definitions are added almost everyday.
[ A - F ] [ G - L ] [ M - R ] [ S - Z ]
- M -
 Macramé: an old craft form of textile-making using knotting rather than weaving or knitting. Its primary knots are the square knot and forms of hitching (full hitch and double half hitches). It has been used by sailors, especially in elaborate or ornamental knotting forms to decorate anything from knife handles to bottles to parts of ships (see illustration).
Magenta: one of the four process colors, or CMYK, the M is for magenta. A color also known as fuchsia and hot pink; a moderate to vivid purplish red or pink.
Mannerism: A style of art that developed in the sixteenth century as a reaction to the classical rationality and balanced harmony of the High Renaissance; characterized by the dramatic use of space and light, exaggerated color, elongation of figures, and distortions of perspective, scale, and proportion.
Marbling: the art or process of producing certain patterns of a veined or mottled appearance in imitation of marble by means of colors so prepared as to float on a mucilaginous liquid which possesses antagonistic properties to the colors prepared for the purpose.
Masterpiece: a work done with extraordinary skill, especially a work of art, craft or intellect that is an exceptionally great achievement.
Medium: material or technique an artist works in; also, the component of paint in which the pigment is dispersed.
Mineral spirits: an inexpensive paint thinner which cleans brushes, thins paint, cleans furniture, and removes wax often used as a substitute for turpentine.
Miniature: a representational work of art made on a greatly reduced scale.
Minimal design: omitting all non-essential or un-important elements and details which don't really contribute to the essence of the overall composition in order to emphasize what is important.
Minimalism: a movement and style of art from the 20th century which attempts to reduce art to the basic geometric shapes with the fewest colors, lines, and textures. Minimal art does not seek to be representational of any object. Also known as ABC art.
Mixed media: the art technique where an artist employs different types of physical materials such as ink and pastel or painting and collage etc. and combines them in a single work.
Model: a person who poses for an artist.
 Monochromatic: a color scheme limited to variations of one hue, a hue with its tints and/or shades.
Monochrome: painting done in a range of tones of a single color.
Montage: an artwork comprising of seemingly unrelated shots or scenes which, when combined of various existing images such as from photographs or prints and arranged so that they join, overlap or blend to create a new image which achieve meaning (as in, shot A and shot B together give rise to an third idea, which is then supported by shot C, and so on) (see illustration) .
 Mosaic: an art medium in which small pieces of colored glass, stone, or ceramic tile called tessera are embedded in a background material such as plaster or mortar. Also, works made using this technique.
Movement: as it applies to art, the path that our eyes follow when we look at a work of art.
Mural: a large wall painting, often executed in fresco (see illustration).
- N -
Naïve art: art created by untrained artists. It is characterized by simplicity and a lack of the elements or qualities found in the art of formally trained artists.
Negative space: the unoccupied or empty space left after the positive shapes have been laid down by the artist; however, because these areas have boundaries, they also function as shapes in the total design.
Neutral color: colors of very low saturation, approaching grays.
- O -
Oil paint: a type of paint made from color particles( pigment) and linseed oil. Oil paint dries slowly, can be used thick or thin, and with glazes. Because it dries slowly, oil paint is easier to blend from dark to light creating the illusion of three-dimensions. Used by most artists since the Renaissance.
Original: the term 'original' can imply exclusivity or the idea that the work is 'one of a kind' rather than a copy by any method including offset-lithography, digital printing or by forgery. Not all paintings can be considered original since the term also refers to the image being newly created, so a painted copy of another work is not an original.
Outsider art: refers to works by those outside of mainstream society. Outsider art broadly includes folk art and ethnic art as well as by prisoners, the mentally ill and others neither trained in art nor making their works to sell them.
Overpainting: the final layer of paint that is applied over the under painting or under layer after it has dried. The idea behind layers of painting is that the under painting is used to define the basic shapes and design so that the overpainting can be used to fill in the details of the piece.
- P -
Painterly: painting technique characterized by openness of form, in which shapes are defined by loose brushwork in light and dark color areas rather than by outline or contour.
Palette: A thin piece of glass, wood or other material, or pad of paper, which is used to hold the paint to be used in painting; also, the range of colors used by a particular painter.
 Palette knife: a tool originally used by artists for scraping up and mixing the paint from the palette, this implement has been adopted for the application of heavily impacted paint which is spread thickly like butter (see illustration).
Pantone Matching System (PMS): an internationally recognized system of over 3000 pre-mixed colors representing shades on both coated or uncoated stock, along with the precise printing formulas to achieve each color. Each PANTONE color has a specified CMYK equivalent which is numbered and is listed in the swatch guide for quick reference when choosing colors for printing purposes. This system is highly accurate and produces consistent results.
Paper mâché: a technique for creating forms by mixing wet paper pulp with glue or paste. The form hardens as it dries, and becomes suitable for painting. Although paper mâché is a French word which literally means "chewed paper", it was originated by the Chinese - the inventors of paper.
Papyrus: the predecessor of modern paper made from the pith of the papyrus plant used by the ancient Egyptians, Greeks and Romans.
Parchment: an early paper material highly valued during the middle ages. Originally made from goat or sheep skin, parchment today is made from organic fibers and affords artists such as calligraphers a crisp, smooth, high quality surface on which to write.
Pastel: a crayon made from pigment mixed with gum and water and pressed into a stick-shaped form; a work of art created from pastels; a pale color.
Permanent pigment: refers to any pigment which is expected to last or remain without essential change and is not likely to deteriorate under certain atmospheric conditions, in normal light or in proximity to other colors.
Perspective: the art of picturing objects on a flat surface so as to give the appearance of distance or depth.
Photorealism: a style of painting in which an image is created in such exact detail that it looks like a photograph; uses everyday subject matter, and often is larger than life.
Photoshop: a professional image-editing and graphics creation software from Adobe. It provides a large library of effects, filters and layers.
Pigment: any coloring agent, made from natural or synthetic substances, used in paints or drawing materials; the substance in paint or anything that absorbs light, producing (reflecting) the same color as the pigment.
Plane: a shape which is essentially two-dimensional in nature but who's relationship with other shapes may give an illusion of the third dimension.
Plein air: French for "open air", referring to landscapes painted out of doors with the intention of catching the impression of the open air.
Point of view: the position from which something is seen or considered; for instance, head-on, from overhead, from ground level, etc.
Pointillism: a painting technique in which pure dots of color are dabbed onto the canvas surface. The viewer's eye, when at a distance, is then expected to see these dots merge as cohesive areas of different colors and color ranges.
Pop art: a style of art which seeks its inspiration from commercial art and items of mass culture (such as comic strips, popular foods and brand name packaging). Certain works of art created by Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein are examples of pop art.
Portrait: a painting, photograph, or other artistic representation of a person.
Positive space: space that is occupied by an element or a form.
Potter: a craftsman who shapes pottery on a potter's wheel and bakes them it a kiln.
Potter's wheel: a horizontal disk revolving on a spindle and carrying the clay being shaped by the potter.
Pottery: a form of ceramic technology, where wet clays are shaped and dried, then fired to harden them and make them waterproof.
 Primary colors: red, yellow, and blue. With these three colors (and black and white) all other colors can be made. The primary colors themselves can not be made by mixing other colors (see illustration).
Primitive art: Art that has imagery of folk art , it places emphasis on form and expression and often looks child like.
Principles of design: the basic aesthetic considerations that guide organization of a work of art. They include balance, movement, emphasis, contrast, proportion, space, and unity.
Printmaking: the process by which a work of art can be recreated in great quantity from a single image usually prepared from a plate.
Proportion: a sense of appropriateness in the size relationship of different parts of a work.
Pure symmetry: an equilibrium created by identical parts that are equally distributed on either side of a real or imaginary cent4ral axis in mirror-like repetition.
- Q -
Quadrilateral: in geometry, a four-sided polygon; examples include squares, rectangles, parallelograms, trapezoids, etc.
Quill: a pen is made from a flight feather (preferably a primary) of a large bird, most often a goose. Quills were used as instruments for writing with ink before the metal dip pen, the fountain pen, and eventually the ball point pen came into use.
Quilting: the process of making a Quilt from beginning to end. Or the actual act of sewing the layers of a quilt together, either by hand or by machine. Also refers to the finished lines of sewn thread that make up the quilting design.
- R -
 Rabbet: in art, the "L" cut all around the perimeter of the frame, against which glass, mat, or picture panels are installed (see illustration).
Radial balance: the balance as the result of components that are distributed around a center point or spring out from a central line.
Realism: a style of painting which depicts subject matter (form, color, space) as it appears in actuality or ordinary visual experience without distortion or stylization.
Repetition: a series of repeated elements having similarity.
Reproduction: a copy of an original print or fine art piece. A reproduction could be in the form of a print, like an offset-lithographic print, or even reproduced in the same medium as the original, as in an oil painting.
RGB: stands for Red, Green, Blue. In web design and design for computer monitors, colors are defined in terms of a combination of these three basic additive colors.
Rhythm: a continuance, a flow, or a feeling of movement achieved by the repetition or regulated visual units.
 Right brain: refers to a theory in which the right side of the brain is the creative side, responsible for art and spatial comprehension, while the left side is responsible for reading, verbal, and mathematical sorts of tasks.
Rule of thirds: a composition rule that divides the scene into three rows and three columns. The rule states that the painting is much more interesting if the focal point is not in the center of the canvas but rather in one of the outlying regions, preferably at one of the intersection points (see illustration).
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