Aquarelle

"Watercolor" in French, referring to the drawing or painting with transparent watercolor. This is a demanding way of painting, prohibiting the use of pigments that are opaque, especially black and white. The paper serves as the whites and tints in a painting.

Aquatint

A method of intaglio printing wherein a cloud of resin dust is laid on the plate and heated so the resin melts into tiny globules. Acid immersion bites the exposed metal, allowing the artist to print soft gradations on the paper.

Dry point

Like etching, except that a sharp needle is used to scratch the image directly into the metal. A burr is left on the plate which gives lines a feathery appearance.

Engraving

Printmaking process in which a sharp tool (burin) is used to scratch lines into a hard surface such as metal or wood. A pre 20th-century artist described as an engraver likely worked in any of the intaglio methods of etching, engraving, or drypoint.

Etching

An engraving method where the design is cut or bitten into the metal plate with a sharp needle to scratch a layer of soft wax or resin that temporarily coats the metal printing plate for the purpose of allowing the artist to draw his or her work. Once the drawing with the needle is complete, the etcher uses controlled acid immersion to burn the drawing into the plate where the artist's needle has scratched away the waxy substance.

Intaglio

This is printing from metal plates that have been etched or scratched. In intaglio printing, the image is produced by ink carried in grooves and depressions, the raised surface of the plate being wiped clean.

Etching, engraving, drypoint, and aquatint are all intaglio processes.

Print

An image created from a master wood block, stone, plate, or screen, usually on paper. Prints are referred to as multiples, because as a rule many identical or similar impressions are made from the same printing surface, the number of impressions being called an edition. When an edition is limited to a specified number of prints, it is a limited edition. A print is considered an original work of art and today is customarily signed and numbered by the artist.

Still Life

A painting or other two-dimensional work in which the subject matter is an arrangement of objects - fruit, flowers, tableware, pottery, and so forth - brought together for pleasing contrasts of shape, color, and texture. Also, the arrangement of the objects itself.

Sumi-e

The art of painting on rice paper or silk with brush and black ink. Ink and wash painting, also known as wash painting or (by its Japanese name) sumi-e, is an East Asian school of brush painting.

Ukiyo-e

The classical form of woodblock printing that developed in Japan during the 17th Century.

Watercolor

Paint that uses water-soluble gum as the binder and water as the vehicle. Water is used for thinning, lightening, or mixing. Characterized by transparency. Also, the resulting painting.

Woodblock/Woodcut

Relief print methods using inked blocks of wood with a design incised with a graver, tint tool or scorpor. Woodblock and woodcut printing were the earliest methods used for making relief prints. They differ from each other in that a woodblock has a transverse cut or endgrain of the hardest part of the block. A woodcut is a cut longitudinally and has parallel grain. Woodblock and woodcut engraving differ from other print methods in that the design is from the positive space and not the negative.

The earliest woodblock prints appeared in Europe in the 15th century. Americans began to use this art form in the last quarter of the 19th century as a result of the influence of Japanese prints.

Word Art Glossary

Haiku

A traditional form of Japanese poetry that follows very specific rules. Haiku have three lines, with 5-7-5 syllables per line. Two of the lines are disconnected logically from the other. The content always contains a season of the year. Subject matter is limited to nature. Learn More.

Senryu

Like Haiku, a short poem of 17 syllables. The Senryu follows most of the rules for Haiku, except that it is not limited to scenes of nature, makes a social comment and is often humorous. Learn More

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