gouache
(goo-ahsh)

Gouache is a water-soluble paint that is opaque, rather than transparent like watercolor. Gouache and watercolor paints can be used together.
White is one of the paint colors available in gouache, unlike watercolors, where the paper is preserved, or kept pristine, as the white in the painting.
Source: painting.about.com

hue
(hyoo)

The actual color of something, such as red, green, or blue, or the name we give a color. What we generally, but less technically correct, call color.
When a tube of paint says 'hue' on it, for example cadmium red hue, it means that the color will be almost identical to genuine cadmium red, but the pigment is something different. A tube of paint labelled as a 'hue' may be a cheaper or blended version, it may be that the original color is no longer produced (such as Indian yellow), or it may be that the original was not lightfast (such as Hooker's Green).
Source: painting.about.com

gesso
(jes-oh)

The initial coating put on a support before you paint on it. It protects the support from the paint, some of which contain components that could damage it, provides the key (surface) for the paint to stick to, and affects the absorbency of the support.
Source: painting.about.com

patina
(puh-tee-nuh)

A sheen or coloration on any surface, either unintended and produced by age or intended and produced by simulation or stimulation, which signifies the object's age; also called aerugo, aes ustum, and verdigris. Typically a thin layer of greens (sometimes reds or blues), usually basic copper sulfate, that forms on copper or copper alloys, such as bronze, as a result of oxidation and corrosion. Metal objects have naturally acquired patinas when long buried in soil or immersed in water. Such naturally formed patinas have come to be greatly prized. There are many formulae for the pickles and chemical treatments of metals which may be employed to encourage the formation of patinas.
A person who produces patinas is a patineur.
Source: painting.about.com

alla prima
(ah-luh pree-muh)

Alla prima is a style of painting where, instead of building colors up with layers or glazing over an underpainting, the painting is completed while the paint is still wet. Strictly defined, an alla prima painting would be started and finished in one painting session, but the term is also more loosely applied to any painting done in a direct, expressive style, with minimal preparation.
Alla prima comes from Italian, literally meaning "at once". The French term is "premier coup".
Famous painters who worked in an alla prima style are as diverse as Paul Cezanne, John Singer Sargent, Mary Cassatt, Winslow Homer, Caravaggio, Hieronymus Bosch, and Frans Hals.
Source: painting.about.com

assemblage
(uh-sem-blij)

An assemblage is a category of sculpture constructed ("assembled") from found or scavenged objects and man-made materials. The term was first used in 1953 by the French artist and writer Jean Dubuffet. The boxes of Joseph Cornell and Combines of Robert Rauschenberg are examples of assemblage.
Assemblage differs from collage in (theoretically) being a three-dimensional artwork, whereas collage is two dimensional, though the boundary between the two can be blurred.
Source: painting.about.com

surrealism
(suh-ree-uh-liz-uh-m)

Surrealism is an art movement started in the 1920s which focuses on the subconscious, the fantastic, the interpretation of dreams, and the juxtaposition of unlikely elements.
Key exponents included Salvador Dali and Rene Magritte.
Source: painting.about.com

tortillon
(tor-ti-yon)

A tortillon is a rolled stick of paper fiber, shaped to a point at each end, used to blend and smudge pencil and charcoal. Tortillons may be purchased from an art store, or you can make your own by tightly rolling a tube of paper. A piece of clean rag wrapped over a finger or folded to a point can also do the same job. Make-up applicators and cotton q-tips can also be used, though results vary according to the absorbency of the chosen material.
Also Known As: blending stump, torchon.
Source: drawsketch.about.com

mosaic
(moh-zey-ik)

The decoration of a surface with small juxtaposed fragments (tesserae) of glass, enamel, stone, or ceramic arranged according to a design traced on a specially prepared base.
Source: mosaicartsource.com

tesserae
(tes-er-uh)

Small, usually square pieces of glass or other material used to make a mosaic. Their size generally ranges from a few millimetres to two centimetres long and five to ten millimetres thick. The term derives from the Greek word meaning "four-sided".
Source: mosaicartsource.com

opus
(oh-puh-s)

A creative piece of work in any field of the arts. In mosaic art, opus refers to the technique of positioning the tesserae.
Source: mosaicartsource.com

appliqué
(ap-li-key)

A design made by stitching pieces of colored fabric onto a larger piece of cloth. Appliqué is used for wall hangings and as decoration on clothing, quilts and pillows.
Source: artlex.com

cameo
(kam-ee-oh)

A small-scale low relief in a stratified or banded material, usually a gemstone such as onyx or sardonyx, but also in calcite alabaster or shell or glass, in which the ground is of one color and the figure in relief in another color or colors.
Source: artlex.com

casein
(kay-seen)

Casein is a white, tasteless, odorless protein precipitated from milk by rennin. Casein is the basis of cheese, and is used to make plastics, adhesives, and foods, as well as paint. Casein paint can be used on paper or board for light impasto, for underpainting, wall decoration, etc. Casein paint is too inflexible for use on canvas.
It dries quickly with a waterproof surface, and may be varnished.
Source: artlex.com

caricature
(kar-i-kuh-choo-r)

A representation in which the subject's distinctive features or peculiarities are deliberately exaggerated to produce a comic or grotesque effect. Also, the art of making such representations.
Caricature is most common in drawings and editorial cartoons, but Honoré Daumier (French, 1808-1879) made several sculptural examples.
Source: artlex.com

beret
(buh-rey)

A round, soft brimless tam (hat). It fits snugly, and is often worn angled to one side. It has long been a traditional mode of head-covering throughout Europe, and now other parts of the world. Men, women and children of all walks have worn it, and continue to, but it has been popularly associated with artists since the nineteenth century, to the extent that the stereotypical artist is depicted wearing a beret.
Source: artlex.com