H E L P F U L D E F I N I T I O N S
Antiquing – decorative process that imparts painted surfaces with a false sense of age, imitating the discoloration caused by dust and dirt, wear and tear.
Arabesque – surface decoration, originally found on Arabic paintings, consisting of intertwining leaf, flower or animal forms, or rhythmic designs.
Art Deco – design style named after the 1925 Exposition des Arts Decoratif in Paris that was heavily influenced by Cubist art and contemporary mechanical forms.
Art Nouveau – late nineteenth century style of art and architecture, opposed to the classicism of the immediate past.
Arts and Crafts movement – late Victorian group of artists who advocated a revival of traditional craftsmanship and pre-industrial values based on design quality and dignity of labor.
Baroque – rich European style of architecture and decoration, popular during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, chiefly characterized by its floral lines, confidence, theatrical use of ornamentation and grandeur.
Bas-relief – sculpture that projects slightly from the background but not detached from it, also known as low-relief.
Bauhaus – design school based in Germany in the 1920s that sought to dismantle the barriers that separate decorative art and engineering.
Brocade – heavy, opulent silk with raised patterns, originally worked in silver or gold thread.
Byzantine – art style that flourished during the sixth century, and later from the ninth to eleventh century in Byzantium (later Constantinople), combining elements from ancient Greece, Oriental culture and Christianity.
Classical – architectural or decorative stylistic motifs prevalent in the designs of Greek or Roman antiquity.
Combing – technique in which the teeth of a comb are scraped through a surface glaze to produce patterns on walls or furniture.
Complementary colors – any pair of colors, that when placed on a color wheel occupy opposing positions.
Crackle glaze – decorative glaze finish developed in eighteenth-century France to reproduce the fine network of cracks found on Eastern laquerwork and pottery.
Damask – silk or linen fabric, with a lavish textural pattern.
Decoupage – method of decorating walls and objects with paper cutouts.
Distressing – process of artificially abrading a new surface to create the appearance of old age.
Dragging/dry-brushing- technique of pulling a long haired brush through wet transparent glaze to produce a series of fine lines on walls or furniture.
Empire – grandiose French style that mixed Classical decorative devices with Egyptian and Napoleonic imagery.
Faux effects – literally, false effects. Finishes created to imitate another material, such as marble or wood.
Filigree – delicate ornamentation or tracery, often produced with fine wires of gold or silver.
Fleur-de-lys – old French motif that takes the form of a stylized lily or iris flower.
Fly-specking – finish created by spattering colored glaze or varnish onto a surface to convey a feeling of age.
Fresco – durable painting, usually found on walls and ceilings, created by incorporating watercolors directly into wet plaster surfaces; the technique was perfected in Renaissance Italy.
Frieze – broad horizontal band on the upper part of a wall that is decorated separately from the rest of the room with stencils, paintings, wallpaper, or plasterwork
Gilding – method of coloring surfaces gold, either by the application of gold leaf or gold paint.
Glazing – simple water-based paint technique used to produce a softly textured, patchy finish, achieved by applying layers of thin paint, also known as color-washing.
Gothic – architectural style of twelfth-century French origin, widely adopted throughout Western Europe until displaced by the Classical influences of the Renaissance.
Gouache – opaque, water-based paint, in which pigments are bound with glue or gum Arabic.
Half tone – any color tinted halfway between the given hue and white.
Inlay – form of decoration on flat surfaces, such as furniture, made with a pattern of holes filled with materials such as wood, metal, or stone.
Lincrusta – patented nineteenth-century type of cast plastic, similar to embossed papers.
Marbling – variety of paint techniques to artificially recreate the appearance of marble
Mask – fluid or cut-out card shape used to cover a surface, providing a barrier against a layer of paint.
Matte – flat, non-greasy finish.
Mayan – characteristic of the art and architecture of the ancient Central American Indian civilization.
Modernism – style which developed in the early part of the twentieth century, based on a rejection of traditional approaches in favor of more industrial, unornamented genres.
Moorish – associated with the art, architecture, and culture of the Moors, who established dominance in North Africa and southern Spain in the eighth century.
Mosaic – decorative design produced from the assembly of small pieces of stone, marble, metal, or glass.
Papier-mache – layers of paper, or paper pulp, mixed with paste, which can be molded when wet, and dry to form a light but tough material.
Patina – color and texture that appears on the surface of a material as a result of age or corrosion.
Post-impressionist – term referring to group of artists operating after the Impressionist movement in nineteenth-century France.
Primary colors – in terms of paint, red, yellow and blue, from which all other colors can be created.
Ragging – paint technique that employs a crumpled rag to create decorative broken-color finishes.
Rococo – exuberant early eighteenth-century European decorative style characterized by its scalloped curves, elaborate scrolls and pastel colors.
Rustic – frivolous eighteenth-century style of decoration applied to roughly hewn outdoor furniture and interior plasterwork.
Sponging – painting technique that uses a damp sponge to produce a mottled patchy effect.
Stenciling – method of decoration which paint is applied through a cut-out design to create images on a surface.
Stippling – painting or texturing a surface with a fine, mottled pattern, using a stiff-bristled brush.
Swag – motif usually representing a line of drapery, or a chain of leaves, flowers or fruit.
Trompe l’oiel – any variety of optical illusions designed literally to “fool the eye.”
Verdigris – green color, produced as a result of naturally occurring corrosion on copper, bronze, and brass.
Wash – thin, diluted paint, also known as a glaze or colorwash.
Whitewash – substance used for whitening surfaces originally composed of slaked lime and water, also known as limewashing.
Woodgraining – technique used to imitate natural woodgrain.
HISTORICAL STYLES
Tudor & Jacobean (1485-1625)
Baroque(1625-1714)
Early Georgian (1714-1765)
Colonial(1607-1780)
Late Georgian (1765-1811)
Regency &Early 19th Century
Federal & Empire (1780-1850)
British Victorian (1837-1901)
American Victorian (1840-1910)
Arts & Crafts (1860-1925)
Art Nouveau (1888-1905)
Edwardian (1901-1914)
American Beaux Arts(1870-1920)
Modernism (1920-1950)
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Sunbrush Design
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