Glossary

Abstract art: nonrepresentational art that focuses on color and form instead of recognizable objects

Acrylic paint: a fast drying paint that is made with acrylic polymer

Collage: a work of art made by assembling different parts to create a new, completed whole. Often made with materials like paper and fabric glued onto a surface.

Composition: the layout used for a work of art

Depth: when art gives you the perception of something being three dimensional

Glaze: a thin, shiny coating.

Highlights: areas that are hit directly by light. These sections are typically much lighter than other areas of a particular object or figure.

Nonobjective art: artwork that doesn’t contain recognizable subject matter. The art focuses more on color, shape, or line.

Objective art: art that depicts recognizable subject matter.

Oil paint: a slow drying paint that is made with oil

Painting with paper: Megan Coyle’s collage technique where she cuts magazine strips and glues them down in such a way that they resemble the brushstrokes in a painting

Representational art: depicts something that is easily recognizable by most people

Shadows: areas where light from a light source cannot reach. As a result, these areas are darker than other sections of a particular object or figure.

Space: the distance around or between areas of a composition.

Style: the characteristics of the visual appearance of a work of art that ties it to other work created by that same artist

Subject (also known as subject matter): the content that is depicted in a work of art

Support: refers to the surface used to make art, such as the canvas or paper used to paint or collage on

Technique: a method of manipulating an art medium.

Tempera paint: a fast drying paint that is made with colored pigment mixed with a water-soluble binder medium.

Texture: the visual surface of a work of art. Texture can be rough, smooth, soft, bumpy, slick, and so on.

Varnish: a clear material often painted onto artwork to protect it or give it a shiny surface

Watercolor: a fast drying paint where the liquid is a water that is mixed with the binding material

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