Art Dictionary by Arcy Art Original Oil Paintings

Click on a letter to view definitions of art terminology beginning with that letter.

ART DICTIONARY - P

Paint - Paint consist of pigment suspended in liquid. The pigment is only wetted and not dissolved by the liquid ...more info
Painterly - Painterly paintings rely on brush strokes and impasto ...more info
Pointillism - Pointillism is an art term coined by art critics in the 1880's and describes a painting created by small distinct points of primary colour placed in a such a manner as to create the impression of a wide selection of secondary colours ...more info
Palette - Palette is a surface on which an artist sets out and mixes colours ...more info
Palette Knife - A Palette knife is a flexible blade used for for mixing oil paints on the palette ...more info
Papiers Collés - Papiers Collés is a technique in art where a picture is made from pieces of paper or cardboard and glued to a support ...more info
Passage - Passage is a term used to describe certain areas in a painting ...more info
Pastel - Pastel is a stick of powdered pigment mixed with a binder such as gum ...more info
Pattern - Pattern describes a unit that repeats itself without variation ...more info
Perspective - Perspective is one of the means of representing the third dimension on the two-dimensional surface ...more info

Pigment - Pigment gives colour to paint. Pigment is a coloured substance either mineral, vegetable, or synthetic ...more info
Plane - In two-dimensional art, plane refers to a flat or level surface of a material body which can also be imagined in space ...more info
Plein Air - Plein Air is a term used in painting and it refers to a painting done in the open air instead of the studio ...more info
Pointing Machine - A pointing machine is a kind of three-dimensional tracing machine ...more info
Positive Form - Positive form in art relates to the solid pieces of material that displace or inhabit space ...more info
Priming - Priming is the term used to describe any method which insulates fibres of canvas or board from oil or oil pigment ...more info
Proportion - Proportion is the relation of one part to another and the relation of these parts to the whole ...more info
Proportional Relations - There are three main kinds of proportional relations existing among the parts and dimensions of a piece of sculpture ...more info