Glossary
complementary colors
Colors that are directly opposite each other on the color wheel, such as red and green, blue and orange, and violet and yellow. When complements are mixed together they form the neutral colors of brown or gray. Note that this term is spelled differently than the word "complimentary," which means gift.
ukiyo-e
Japanese for 'pictures of the floating world'. Ukiyo-e were popular in the seventeenth to nineteenth-centuries, and depicted kabuki actors, landscapes, and folk tales.
Example: Kitagawa Utamaro's Five Kinds of Ink from the Northern Provinces, early 1790's
ultramarine
Blue pigment originally made from ground lapis lazuli. French ultramarine is an artificial substitute.
undercut
Carving to create an overhang; a recess or awkward angle in the surface or form of a three-dimensional object which would prevent easy removal of a cast from a mold. Molds should be designed to eliminate this problem. Ways to cast objects with overhangs include using piece molds and waste molds.
underdrawing
Drawing preliminary to other work, and incorporated into it, thus deprived of independent artistic value. An example is the underdrawing in fresco and panel painting, such as sinopia and abbozzo.
underpainting
The layer or layers of color on a painting surface applied before the overpainting, or final coat. There are many types of underpainting. One type is an all-over tinting of a white ground. Another is a blocked out image in diluted oil colors that serves as a guide for the painter while developing the composition and color effects.
See Also: abbozzo, sinopia (or sinopie), grisaille
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