We've composed a list of some of the most commonly used decorative painting terms and techniques and
tools and defined them. This includes terms for Interior and Exterior Painting, Decorative Painting, Murals, Trompe L'Oeil and Faux Finishes, the tools and techniques.
Acrylic Paint
A common name given to water base paints made with an emulsion of 100% acrylic co-polymers. Artist's acrylics are sold by the tube and have the consistency of toothpaste. For decorative painting they are more often used to tint the glazing liquid.
Matte Paint Finish - A flat finish. Absorbs light well and is good for hiding imperfections. It is not very durable as it marks easily and can be difficult to clean.
Eggshell Paint Finish - Also called satin, pearl, velvet. It gives a subtle sheen, very popular for walls, as it is not too shiny, not too flat. It is relatively easy to clean.
Semi-gloss Paint Finish - Most commonly used for woodwork, trim, and furniture. Reflects light making surface marks or cracks more visible. Semi-gloss latex paint is an ideal base coat for painted finishes that require a great deal of manipulation such as faux marbles and tortoiseshells. It is easier to manipulate a glaze on a shiny surface. Semi-gloss is easy to clean.
High-Gloss Paint Finish - Commonly used for exterior painting and doors because of its high durability. Also used on interior doors, baseboards, and trim. Reflects light, so any surface marks or cracks are very visible. Adds depth to your finish. High-gloss paint is very easy to clean.
Alkyd
A synthetic resin used in oil base paints. Reacting a drying oil with a hard, synthetic material creates an alkyd resin.
Antiquing
Technique intended to give appearance of age or wear.
Badger Hair Softener
A high quality brush made with badger hair and used to soften and blend glazes together for Marbling, Wood Graining, and other faux finishes.
Base Coat
The first coat of paint applied to a surface after the primer coat or tinted primer coat to render it non-porous.
Broken Color
Techniques whereby a wet glazed surface is given a variance by manipulating it with various tools.
Burnish
To polish using a hard, smooth tool such as a trowel or putty knife.
Color Consultations
As an artist, I enjoy the opportunity to teach my clients about color.
I explain the need to consider first what direction any windows are facing
Windows that look to the north and east will receive the dim, ochre light of morning,
while windows that face south and west will receive the bright, crimson light of afternoon.
This knowledge helps us decide what hue to begin with. I also teach my clients about tint and shade and we discuss how to use a color wheel
to select colors that are complimentary to one another.
A color consultation will take several hours and should include any window and floor treatments,
style and color of furniture as well as a Q&A to determine the client's own personal preferences.
All of these factors will be determinants in the decision of what color(s) to use.
Color Wheel
The visible spectrum of colors arranged in a circle. A chart in which complementary colors are arranged on opposite sides of the circle.
Combing
A technique of pulling toothed implements (rubber, metal, leather, plastic or cardboard) through wet media.
Coverage
Amount of surface a given quantity of paint will cover; also how well paint conceals surface being painted.
Crackle Finish
A finish in which cracking is produced, allowing the undercoat to show through the cracks. A rapid drying of topcoat over slow drying undercoat produces crackling.
Cutter
A short, natural (hog hair) bristle brush used to add specific markings in simulating wood grain.
Decorative Painting Technique
This can be accomplished with a variety of techniques and tools, adorning surfaces in a decorative way using paint and/or glaze.
Denatured Alcohol
This is also called denatured solvent or solvent alcohol. It is an alcohol that has been made unfit for drinking. Used as a solvent for all shellac-based media and dried latex and acrylic films.
Distressing
Can also be another term for ‘glazing and wiping'.
Dragger
A stiff bristle brush used for 'dragging".
Dragging
A glazing technique for achieving a subtle mix of fine stripes by pulling a wide stiff bristled brush through wet glaze. Also called Strie'.
Extender
A slow-drying clear medium that when mixed with latex paint, creates a durable glaze.
Faux
Pronounced: Foe, it comes from the Old French word "fals" meaning: false.
Artificial, fake; such as faux pearls, faux marble, faux leather, etc..
Faux Bois
A French term meaning 'fake wood".
Faux Marble
A French term meaning 'fake marble".
Fitch
This is a natural long hair bristle brush with bristles 1" wide and 1 ˝" long. Used primarily for mixing color into glaze.
Flogger
A brush with very long bristles used to simulate wood grain.
Flogging
A technique used to create the appearance of pores in wood by 'drumming" or 'slapping" the surface with a long bristled brush. Usually used in the 1st stage of imitating certain types of wood.
Frottage`
(in decorative painting) This comes from the French word meaning 'to rub". The decorative paint term denotes a technique of applying a wet glaze, then rubbing it with fabric, paper or other materials, to create a texture.
Gesso
Traditionally this is a medium made from rabbit skin glue and whiting (chalk) which was used to prime artist's canvas or as a ground under water gilding. Presently, gesso is made from acrylic resins yet still has thickness, whiteness and hardness of traditional gesso.
Gilding
The application of metal in any form (gold or other metallic leaf, metallic foil, metallic paint, metallic powder, etc.) as a finish.
Glaze
A clear, durable medium formulated and mixed with latex paint to extent the open-time or work time to the paint so that it can be manipulated. Glaze is a paint extender. It is also used to create translucence and/or to add sheen and dimension in some faux finishes.
Glazing
Glazing is a general term that applies to many different techniques of application. Glaze or scumbol, is basically a latex polymer
emulsion with no pigment; or, in other words, 'clear" paint. The important thing to remember in glazing is to mix the glaze in the
proper proportion to paint. Mixing paint with glaze will render the paint translucent, or, 'see-through;" allowing other colors or
applications to partially 'show-through." Too much paint, and you will loose the translucence. Not enough paint, and the effect
'disappears." Many artists prefer to glaze with a product called scumbol. Scumbol is better suited for mixing with pure artist's
pigments and requires a greater amount of skill in color theory. Glaze is relatively easy to use and works well with common house paint.
The paint you use should always be in a satin or eggshell sheen. I have found the best mix for me is four parts glaze, one part paint and one
part water. Glaze can be applied in positive techniques, meaning using a tool to apply the glaze; or negative techniques which use a
tool to remove the glaze after it gas been brushed or rolled on. My experience is that negative techniques are much more messy but
produce a far superior result! The tools used for glazing are only limited by your own imagination: I have used sponges of all sorts; feather
dusters, brushes, rollers, rags, plastic, paper bags, rubber squeegees, even bare skin! All of these different tools create different
and beautiful patterns.
Gradient
A continuous and gradual color transition.
Grain
The arrangement of the fibers in wood.
Heart Grainer (Rocker)
A tool used to create the heart grain of wood for 'faux bois".
Highlighting
Making certain parts of finished project appears lighter than other parts
Hog Hair Softener
A high quality brush made from hog's hair used to softer and blend glazes together for wall glazing. It is also used to remove excess glaze build up in corners of walls or recesses of carved moldings or to eliminate brush strokes in wet glaze.
How to determine a client's "style"
Pay attention to existing furnishings, window treatments and floor coverings. Look at the type of artwork your client has.
See if you can visit any areas in the home or business already finished by another artist. Ask the client if they are pleased
with what the other artist accomplished. Ask what the other painter could have done better. Find out if what you are looking
at is indicative of what the client is looking for. You can also pay attention to the way the client is dressed. A person's clothing
speaks volumes about their personal sense of style. Take a look at what your client is driving and consider what your client
does for a living. Listen to the way your client speaks: is he or she highly educated, diplomatic, refined? Is your client loud and aggressive?
What feeling do they want to have when entering the space? Quiet solitude? Energetic activity?
How will the space be used? Reading, watching movies; eating, sleeping, entertaining guests?
Does the client think of himself or herself as modern, post modern, traditional….
What are the client's favorite colors, least favorite? I also ask my clients general questions about their likes and dislikes such as favorite foods, recreational activities and pastimes.
I ask them if they have a favorite vacation spot, and what they do for a living.
Hue
The family name of a color according to its wavelength on the visible spectrum.
Latex Paint
Water base paint made with a synthetic latex emulsion.
Marbleizing
For marble, start with a solid color base-coat in a satin sheen. When that is dry, mix a glaze of four parts scumbol to one part
paint in a lighter shade of the base coat. Sponge this color in a random pattern all over the area. Before this coat dries,
work it back and forth and up and down and on diagonals with a badger hair softening brush. When this is dry, repeat this step
with a coat that is a darker shade of the original base coat. When this is dry, mix a glaze in off white and use a feather to imitate the
'veining" effect. This will take some practice. Before the 'vein" dries, wipe across it lightly with the badger-hair brush to slightly 'scatter"
the glaze. When this is dry, you can proceed with six coats of varnish to finish the effect. Believe me, without at least six coats, it won't look right.
Masking
The use of tape, paper, a combination of the two or other substances to protect and isolate a particular area for painting.
Materials
For exterior work I almost always use alkyd or oil-based products.
For interior faux finishes I typically use latex products.
For trompe' and mural painting I work in acrylics.
Mineral Spirits / White Spirits
Used as a solvent for oil-based paint and varnish.
Moiré
A British term meaning to break up a glaze giving a blotchy surface appearance by manipulating a rag, sponge, stipple or brush into the wet glazed surface. Visual effect of different tones used to render certain linear patterns in marble and undulations in wood grain to achieve nuance and depth.
Monochrome
Having or appearing to have only one color. Painting done in a range of tones of a single color to create depth and shadow.
Mottler
A short, natural, soft-haired (squirrel) bristle brush used in simulating wood grain.
Negative Technique
Glaze is applied to a surface with a roller or brush and then manipulated with various tools thereby moving and removing it.
Opacity
The degree of covering/hiding power of a paint or coating.
Open Time
The amount of time that a glaze stays wet and workable.
Oxidation
The chemical change caused by the introduction of oxygen. On iron it creates rust, on copper it creates an attractive patina known as verdigris (due to the greenish tint).
Patina
A thin greenish layer that forms on copper or copper alloys, such as bronze, as a result of long exposure to the elements and often valued aesthetically for its color. It gives a surface appearance of something grown beautiful naturally, with age or use.
Positive Technique
Glaze is applied to a surface with the manipulating tool (such as a sea sponge or rag).
Preparation is the key to great work.
After an area is masked-off and the drop cloths are down, we fill any holes or cracks with the
proper repair material: meaning a plaster wall is repaired with plaster and a gypsum wall is
repaired with joint compound, cement walls are repaired with cement, etc. When a wall has been properly repaired,
we prime the entire wall with a stain blocking white-pigmented primer like Killz.
Then two coats of paint, in the appropriate color and sheen is applied.
Now a wall is ready for a faux finish, trompe l' oeil or mural.
Masking is tantamount to a clean, accurate job. I mask everything as if the room were going to
be spray-painted. I can guarantee my clients that not one drop of paint will appear anywhere
except where it is supposed to go. This saves me countless hours in clean up because masking
is much easier to remove than paint. Drop cloths are the next most important detail. Drops should
always be fairly new and clean. You can find a local dry cleaner that will wash and dry your drop
cloths for around five bucks each.
When a drop cloth becomes too stained and splattered to be
presentable in a high-end home, I cut it up and stretch it into canvases for my paintings.
I keep all my materials in one central spot in the center of the room. Every day at the end of
work I see to it my 'paint station" is neat and organized. Ladders are folded-up and laid down, and
every bucket is sealed. At the end of a job we remove every scrap of trash we have made.
Before we leave, the carpet gets vacuumed and floors swept.
Primer
The first coat of media applied to a surface to reduce absorbency & to ensure adhesion of subsequent coats.
Rag Rolling
A glazing technique that involves using rags to manipulate wet glaze.
Scumble
Traditionally, a British term denoting tinted oil (or water color) glaze or stain that is used to produce a broken color effect. In North America the term means a translucent, slow-drying, water base glaze.
Shade
Degree of color obtained by adding black to a color or hue.
Shellac
An alcohol-soluble liquid derived from lac, the resinous secretion of the lac beetle. Deep orange-brown in its natural state, white shellac is bleached colorless to make clear shellac.
Skim Coat - Venetian Plaster
The second step in the Venetian Plaster Techniques whereby a skim coat of Venetian Plaster is forced into the valleys and recesses of the texture coat, filling in the pattern and creating a tone on tone effect, also called 'smooth coat".
Soften
To blend a color or brush marks by lightly smoothing, partially or wholly, generally with a badger hair softener.
Sponge Painting
A broken color effect produced by either applying color or removing color by dabbing with a natural sponge.
Stipple
A decorative treatment also known as 'Pouncing". A glaze is applied to the surface and while it is wet, a Stippler is hit or pounced onto the surface causing the glaze to disperse into tiny dots. Stippling gives a very even film of glaze while removing brush strokes in a wet glaze.
Stippler
A large brush, usually with a large surface area of hundreds of hog hair bristles, that when applied to a wet paint or glaze produces a mottled, stippled pattern.
Strie`
A glazing technique for achieving a subtle mix of fine stripes by pulling a wide stiff bristled brush through wet glaze.
Sword Striper
A small, fine, artist brush made of natural (Sable) hairs and is shaped like a sward or dagger. Used for fine veins in marbling.
Texture Coat - Venetian Plaster
The first step in the Venetian Plaster techniques whereby a pattern is made in the wet Venetian Plaster Base Coat and left to dry in anticipation of a second smooth VP coat (skim coat).
Tint
Pigments used for altering the hues of all types of media.
Translucency Clarity
Transmitting light but causing sufficient diffusing to prevent perception of distinct images.
Trompe L'Oeil
French expression meaning, 'To trick the eye". A painting technique in which an illusion of depth and reality is created by emphasizing highlights and shadows.
Universal Tint
Super-saturated colorants used to tint water or oil base glazes, paints, varnishes, plasters, gesso etc. The colorants cannot be used alone; they must be added to another medium.
Value
The amount of light & dark in a hue.
Varnish
Traditionally a transparent coating composed of a fossil resin drying agent and volatile solvent (very yellow). Presently, the term is used to describe any synthetic resins such as alkyd or acrylic clear coats, epoxies and polyurethane's that provide a clear protective coating.
Venetian Plaster
Venetian plaster is a multi-layered application that resembles finishes found in the palaces of Rome. The final product has the same look, shine and feel of marble.
Venetian plaster is tintable; so you can select the color you like. The finish is achieved through repeatedly layering and burnishing the product. The more layers and burnishing applied, the more depth and movement achieved.
The application process is truly laborious. However, it's required to achieve the desired effect.
There are a few variations that can be incorporated with Venetian Plaster:
Stencil designs can be used to create texture and depth. They are embedded into the wall.
An iridescent shine can be achieved by adding metallic glazes.
Wet Edge
The place where one section of glaze joins a still wet, previously applied section, so that no "seam" or "break" in the finish, is visible after it is dry.
Wood Graining
For 'Faux Bois" or 'wood Graining," I prefer to work in oil-based products. First, mask-off the work area and proceed with a coat
of paint that 'matches" the color of the wood in-between the grain areas. When this is dry, apply a solid coat of stain in the color that
matches the rest of the woodwork. While the stain is wet, drag a graining tool (available at most paint stores) through the stain while
'rocking" the tool back and forth. The graining tool is typically four inches wide and so the stain should be applied with a four-inch brush:
One 'stripe" of stain, grain it, another swipe of stain right next to the first swipe, grain it, and continue on across the surface until the entire
surface is 'grained." When this is dry, apply two coats of varnish in the appropriate sheen. Using 'gel" stains to accomplish the graining will
leave a slightly 'raised" wood grain that will look and feel incredibly real.
This list is far from complete. If you come across other decorative painting techniques defined or tips and definitions you would like to see added to our list please
contact us and we'll be happy to add!
