"Lilies" Acrylic and water color mix.
Fine Artist, Petrina JM Sharp (Size 16"x20")
"Koi Fish" Acrylic commission
Fine Artist, Petrina JM Sharp
(Size 18"x60" each)
"Asian Mountain Waterfall"
Acrylic reproduction commission
Fine Artist, Petrina JM Sharp
(Size 24"x48")
"Artists For A Better World, Spirit of Humanity"
Oil painting
Book cover. Fine Artist, Petrina JM Sharp
(Size 24"x36")
"Alexa Abstract"
Fun, acrylic, experiment
Fine Artist, Petrina JM Sharp
(Size 18"x24")
Painting Glossary
Abstract Art: Artwork that does not represent recognizable scenes, objects, or figures -- although it may be inspired by them.
Abstract Expressionism: An American art movement that flourished after World War II. The style was based on line and movement rather than shapes and colors. The physical process of painting was part of its style.
Action Painting: A strand of abstract expressionism. Action painting was an art of pure self-expression -- the painting “grew” as the artist covered a huge canvas with many layers of paint.
Balance: When all the parts of a painting or sculpture are combined to produce a pleasing sense of evenness or harmony the work can be said to be balanced.
Chiaroscuro: A term created from the Italian words for bright and dark. It describes the use of contrasting tones of light and shade. The use of high, light colors and strong, deep shadows to give depth and feeling usually painted in warm earth colors. (Caravaggio1571- 1610) (Rembrandt 1606-69) (Peter Paul Rubens 1577-1640)
Color: We can see or perceive color because the human eye and brain react to the light in different ways. Every color has three basic characteristics: hue -- the name of the color (blue, red, orange); lightness -- the amount of light reflected from a colored object (light blue, dark blue); and chroma -- the intensity or concentration of color (pure blue, blue-green). Artists create brilliant color effects by mixing pigments (coloring powders) in many combinations.
Colorants: Chemical substances that give color to materials such as ink-paint crayons, felt-tip pens and pastels. Dyes are colorants that dissolve in water. Solid particles of colorants are called pigments.
Composition: The arrangement of the individual parts to form a whole, particularly with two or three-dimensional paintings. Lines, shapes and color are organized in an underlying structure. Symmetrical compositions suggest strength and serenity and asymmetrical compositions suggest tension and excitement of form. This can depend on the style of the artist. Geometry and perspective have very much to do with art and were used by the masters of the Renaissance.
Conceptual Art: Artwork where the artistic idea is at least as important as the finished work of art. Often it takes on the idea of “a work in progress”. It can be the artists’ inclination to share the process involved in the making of art. Sometimes it is a question of sorts from an idea or concept. Some (many) conceptual works are shocking and rule breaking or thought provoking or just boring -- sometimes on purpose. The best are puzzling and make the viewer provide the answer to the art. The most posed question then becomes “Is it art?” (Joseph Kosuth 1960’s, Christo 1986ish)
Cubism: The first movement into abstract art of the 20th century. Artists such as Picasso tried to paint 3D reality into 2D paintings. Things that were “known to be” rather than as they "appeared." (Picasso 1881-1973, Georges Braque 1882-1963)
Dada: The first anti-art movement. It was a protest against the horrors of WWI and was started in Switzerland in 1916 by young artists and poets. It was meant to shock, did not follow any rules, and was absurd and outrageous. (Marcel Duchamp 1887-1968)
Decorative Art: Useful objects designed or decorated to make them pleasing to look at and in the case of a home, to tie the space together. These are applied arts to surfaces: including furniture, fabrics, walls or on ornamental items.
Expressionism: An important European visual arts movement around the 1900s. The imagination, feelings or ideas of the artist are emphasized. Color and form are exaggerated and distorted to convey the thoughts and feelings of the artist. (Vincent Van Gogh 1853-90, Edward Munch 1863-1944)
Fauvism: (French for beast) A movement where the artists broke away from a naturalistic style toward a greater freedom in both form and color. Made up of pure color, strong movement and thick brushstrokes. (Matisse 1869-1954) (Maurice de Vlaminck 1874-1958)
Foreshortening: Describes when the artist uses perspective rules to paint an object or figure in space to give the appearance of depth. This gives the impression of the whole figure “inside” the space of the picture but appears condensed or shortened.
Fresco: (means fresh) A technique of using water-based pigments and painting onto layers of still wet plaster. Upon drying the pigment becomes a permanent part of the finished surface. This technique was perfected during the Renaissance in the 1400s and was used by many Italian artists. (Michelangelo 1475-1564)
Impasto: An oil-painting effect where oil is painted in thick strokes, unmixed with other colors and not thinned with any medium, where the marks of brush or knife are clearly seen. (Used by Impressionist painters Peirre-Auguste Renoir 1840-1919) (Mary Cassatt 1844-1926)
Impressionism: The painting technique of studying the effects of light on color and capturing the "impression of a scene." A group of French painters exhibited work in Paris in 1874 and became part of one of the most revolutionary and successful movements in the history of art. (Claude Monet 1840-1926) (Edouard Manet 1832-1883) (Camille Pissarro 1830-1903)
Landscape: The representation of natural scenery in an artistic form. For some artists the truth in nature can only be found in the most accurate and detailed study of all its forms but for others nature has been stylized, idealized and abstracted.
Mural: A painting intended for a wall. It could be painted directly on the surface or affixed to a wall, and is usually large in size.
Oil Painting: Composed of pigments (coloring powders) that are mixed with a binder of linseed oil and used with turpentine, oil and varnish to create art. Usually thin coats of color are blended together next to and on top of each other.
Pastels: Powdered pigments made into drawing sticks. Pastels are often applied dry, to colored paper, using strokes of heavy color or blended on the surface to create soft-shaded tones. Pastels can have the richness of oils but the lightness of watercolor. (Edgar Degas1834-1917)
Perspective: The word comes from Latin and means “to look through.” It is a way of suggesting a 3D space on a 2D surface. Mathematical perspective was invented in the 15th century, showing how shapes can be organized to become smaller as they move away from the viewer.
Pointillism: A technique of painting in small, rounded spots of pure color. When seen from a distance, an illusion of natural colors and solid forms is created by the eye blending the dots together. The word pointillism is from the French word meaning “mark with dots or pointas.” (Georges-Pierre Seurat 1859-91)
Pop Art: Pop artists used favorite products for painting and sculpture, also using commercial art techniques such as silkscreen and photolithography. They also used plastics and industrial materials like aluminum, acrylics and plaster. This movement was based on consumerism in America, using images from popular culture. (Andy Warhol 1928-87) (Roy Lichtenstein 1923-97)(Jasper Johns 1930-)
Portrait Art: A portrait is a work of art that is a “likeness and shows the character” of someone. These images are portraits no matter what the pose is. Expression and meaning, pose and background, all help tell the story of the person in the portrait. The artist can capture these in many ways. Whether it be posed or informal, the idea is to tell a story of some sort. A good portrait is not only a good likeness but also captures the essence of the person being viewed. Artists have been doing portraits for a very long time. Even today it is still sought after in some form or another. Famous portrait artists have many different styles and include subjects of family or the hero or a business achievement. A self-portrait and can portray any walk of life. (Rembrandt 1606-1669) (Francisco de Goya 1746-1828) (John Singer Sargent1856-1925)
Post-Impressionism: Following the impressionistic period of art was post-impressionism. Instead of concentrating on light reflections from the surface of solid forms, there was more emphasis on form itself. Although similar, the artists in this group went about this each in their own way. (Paul Cezanne 1839-1906) (Vincent van Gogh 1853-90) (Paul Gauguin 1848-1903)
Primary Colors: The three basic colors: red, blue and yellow. They can be mixed to form all other colors.
Proportion: The rules that govern the sizes and positions of the parts of a work of art. Proportion can be achieved by artists using their eyes to judge shape and size or by the use of mathematical calculations. The best and most famous example is Leonardo de Vinci’s Vitruvian Figure (1490). With that drawing he states that a man of perfect proportions standing upright with arms raised and legs apart will make a circle and with outstretched arms will make a square shape. This became very symbolic of harmony. To create proportions exactly a standard of measurement is used. The Vitruvan Figure stands eight heads high. Anything could be used as a standard but it needs to be consistent for the entire piece of work.
Realism: Also called naturalism; subjects in art are represented as they are seen in life. It is the search of portraying people and objects in a natural way. Artists have been doing this since the times of classical Greece, through the Renaissance, to the nineteenth century and the present. Realist artists sometimes look for more than just beauty. They look for the truth of what is really there. This art is a presentation of real and existing things. (Gustave Courbet 1819-77) (John Frederick Peto (1854-1907) (Thomas Eakins 1844-1916) (Andrew Wyeth 1917-)
Renaissance: The word itself means "rebirth." In the 14th century Italy a period of artistic creativity began and had a long-lasting influence on the arts. It was a return to naturalism in art and classical style in architecture, which was modeled on the ideals of ancient Greece and Rome. The renaissance artists celebrated the power and dignity of human beings, basing their study on man instead of God as the medieval artists did. Renaissance religious paintings were of real people in natural settings and were joyful and fresh compared to the stiff stylized art of medieval times. (Donatello 1386-1466) (Vittore Carpaccio 1460-1525) (Raphael 1483-1520) (Leonardo Da Vinci 1459-1519) (Michelangelo 1475-1564)
Romanticism: An important movement in England and France from about 1790 to 1860. Imagination and feelings were favored over reason and order. Artists and writers rebelled against the more formal artistic styles of the early eighteenth century. Romantic painters believed nature was a living spirit. Everything “natural” was good. Mother Nature was older, wiser and deeper than a well-ordered society. These artists loved the notion of faraway places, either real or imaginary; the grandness of the past: the extremes of imagined worlds; and romantic landscapes. (John Constable1776-1837) (Caspar-David Friedrich1774-1840) (J.M.W Turner 1775-1851) (Euge’ne Delacroix 1798-1863) (Samuel Palmer 1805-81)
Sculpture: Freestanding works of art that can be seen from all sides. For thousands of years sculptures have been whittled, incised, gouged, carved, chiseled, molded or cast, welded, blasted, glued, assembled or simply arranged in a gallery or open air. Most generally sculpture has been made from durable materials like stone, wood, bone, steel, clay or plastic. These materials have a more timeless presence. Today sculpture can be made of almost any material. Early on sculpture had magical or spiritual/religious significance and is still used as a medium to express symbolic or spiritual ideas.
Secondary Colors: Primary colors mixed in pairs.Silk Screen: Also known as serigraphy. It is a method of printing in many colors. Starting with a silk mesh stretched on a frame, a design is made into stencils, which is then attached to the screen. The ink is pressed though the cut-out areas with a special tool called a squeegee. Graphic artists and painters, as well as fashion designers us silk screen in unusual and interesting ways. (Andy Warhol 1928-87)
Stained Glass: Glass colored with metal oxides. Cut pieces are shaped into a design and held in place or joined with thin strips of lead to make beautiful translucent panels. (Translucent means defusing but transmitting light -- "to see through"). The glass technique dates from 1100-1400, during the middle ages, when the great cathedrals of Europe were being built. It is known as a see through art, as light is very important to the piece.
Stencil: Created from cut-out areas of a design made of card metal or plastic. Clear, often bold shapes make a strong decorative image, which can be repeated in many different colors and design patterns. A stencil design is achieved by taking a stencil and placing it on a flat surface (such as paper, fabric, tiles, walls, ceilings, floors, furniture to name a few). Then color is brushed or sponged over the cut-out areas. The Chinese have used stencil printing for a thousand years for their intricate, multicolored patterns on fabric. Scandinavians and Germans have used stencil designs on furniture and brought them to America when settling here. Many new designs have been created in the States that are completely unique.
Still Life: A form of art that shows objects. This can include flowers, food, pottery, silver, cloth -- just about any object arranged on a flat surface. Items for a still life can be random, collected, carefully arranged, or simply be everyday items that just happen to be in the artist's studio at the time the work is created. The Dutch painters of the eighteenth century created a golden age of flower painting. Their still lifes were also full of symbols often with religious meaning. Additionally, the Dutch created still-life paintings that showed off costly possessions. This had two purposes: one to display material wealth and the other to remind the viewer of the sin of living to excess. Still life as an art form has taken many turns over the centuries but is still a popular form of creating art.
Street Art: Art for the public. It is created in public spaces with the aim of getting attention. The purpose is to convey information. It sells, persuades, warns and entertains. It appears in many forms from advertisements to graffiti, sculpture, banners, posters, neon-signs and murals. Street art started over five thousand years ago in Babylon, where a best-designed shop sign might bring in more business. The invention of the printing press exploded advertisement in the form of handbills and posters, which could be duplicated and later thrown out. Street art takes many forms from advertisement to propaganda to graffiti and is the most used art form today and is most common in our everyday lives -- just go get your mail!
Surrealism: In the 1920s, writers and artists created images in which the familiar met the fantastic in a dream-like world. Hence, super-real or surreal. Artists use the creative power of the subconscious mind by painting images that have trick details or multi images within the work. These works can be “stories” that are mysterious, unsettling or very witty. Surrealistic art often has a quality where the ordinary world meets up with the strange. (Rene’ Magritte 1898-1967) (Salvador Dali 1904-89) (Vladimir Kush 1965-)
Symmetry: Balance and the arrangement of parts in equal sizes in proportion on either side of an imaginary central line of a piece of artwork. Symmetry is often pleasing and natural to the eye. Only geometrical shapes that are precise are completely symmetrical. Faces have small imperfections/differences from side to side, which make them more interesting, but are still basically considered symmetrical. Asymmetry occurs when elements are unbalanced on the art piece. It catches our eye by creating tension, being disturbing, or appearing unnatural.
Theme Artists: Artists who often use stories to illustrate a lesson or proverb. This expression of a story or idea is the theme. By understanding the themes behind the work, we can discover a great deal about beliefs and customs of people through out time. Themes have revolved around Nymphs and Goddesses, fantasy and mythology, social history and religion: just about anything an artist wants to tell a story about.
Trompe L’Oeil: A French phrase meaning “deceive the eye”. The artist makes the viewer believe that the painting, which is highly detailed, appears to be as real as the actual object itself. It has been used to create the illusion of space in a small room, or the illusion of a window where none exists. It can even be used as a bit of humor in a work of art by adding something ordinary, like a fly sitting on a person in the corner of the painting.
Vanishing Point: The illusion created by moving through 3D space on a 2D surface. An example of this would be a straight road that runs into the distance and seems to disappear at a single point on the horizon. Artists can make this feeling of depth by using perspective. In pictures, the point where parallel lines seem to meet at the horizon is where the vanishing point is. This technique was used by the Dutch painters in the 17th century. (Jan Vameer 1632-75) (Pieter de Hooch 1629-84)
Watercolor: A technique of painting using pigments (coloring powder) diluted with water to create transparent washes. The white of the paper brings light through the thin layers of paint. Watercolor is quick drying and is applied with a soft-hair brush, on rough-textured paper. Watercolor as an art form was even used by the ancient Egyptians on papyrus (a thin paper-like material) and by the Chinese on handmade rice paper. This technique is used throughout the world today and is very popular with both young and old and the professional artist.