Glastonbury School of ArtOil Painting Terminology
Wet into wet — wet color into, over or alongside other wet color
Wet over dry — traditional approach allowing systematic control.
Painting to completion or in sections — more control with latter but disjointed appearance is a danger.
Painting in layers — principle behind traditional technique.
Refining foundation — adding to the body color with more subtlety of color and tone.
Finishing with glazes — final modifications of foundation and layers with glazes.
Varying paint thickness — modifying tone and color by thickness of paint: common but needs great skill.
Dead coloring — first application in layered technique, either built up subsequently into further layers or into underpainting.
Underpainting — painting which is designed to combine with later painting (often but not necessarily glazes) to produce desired effect.
Using ground — allowing the ground to partly show through in the finished picture.
Body color — paint given body: dense paint: generally paint made opaque by adding white.
Grisaille — underpainting wholly in shades of gray.
Scumble — partial covering of white applied while paint below is still wet.
Frottie — complete film of semi—transparent paint, either with glaze or smeared thin.
Scraping back — paint scraped back to reveal ghost of last application or some of previous.
Rubbing — using fingers to rub in paint: a controlled and useful technique.
Glazing — layer of transparent color: laid on when paint below is practically dry: any color can be used with glazing medium but transparent colors are best.
Impasto — thick paint standing proud of surrounding surface: used for textural effects and also with glazes.
Blending — softening edges of paint after they have been applied, usually with clean brush.
Teasing — manipulating paint after it has been set down.
Hatching — strokes or cross-strokes in wet paint that blend at a distance.
Scoring — scratching back to underlying layer: often used to represent hair or creases in skin.
Oiling out. When the painting or part of the painting dries dull and opaque (i.e. the paint sinks in) it is wise, prior to continuing painting, to gently rub in a retouching varnish as as to correctly judge colours.
