The internal tension or compression introduced into a tensegrity structure before any external load is applied.
A design approach in which geometric, material, and prestress parameters (angles, lengths, force densities) are exposed as variables. Parametric tensegrity allows systematic exploration of families of forms rather than a single fixed object.
The category or type of content depicted in a work of art.
A style characterized by free-flowing, spontaneous brushstrokes that capture the essence of a subject rather than precise detail, allowing colors to blend naturally and form soft edges.
This video seems the epitome of loose painting style.
The thickness of watercolor paper, expressed as the weight of 500 sheets in pounds (lbs) or in grams per square metre (gsm). Heavier paper is more expensive but more resistant to cockling.
Standard orientations and proportions of the picture plane.
A compositional approach that organizes pictorial space through structural relationships among foreground, middle ground, and background elements.
Adopted from ChatGPT source as a useful organizing parent for banding, threshold, and frieze concepts. Preferred over the narrower 'spatial banding' as a top-level term.
The span from the lightest light to the darkest dark in a composition.
The quality of appearing true or real in a visual representation, creating a convincing illusion of the depicted subject's physical presence.
In visual art criticism, refers to the degree to which a painting convinces the viewer of its subject's reality, distinct from strict photographic accuracy.
A watercolor painting technique that intentionally incorporates non-watercolor media ? such as gouache, acrylic ink, casein, ink, pastel, or collage ? to extend the range of surface effects or exploit contrast between transparent and opaque, wet and dry, or fluid and fixed media.
A compositional strategy in which figures or primary elements face toward the interior of the work rather than outward toward the viewer, creating a self-contained relational field.
Contrasts with traditional sculptural frontality; shifts the viewer's role from addressed spectator to external observer of an autonomous interior exchange.
An approach to representation that prioritizes capturing the felt experience or sensation of a subject over its literal optical appearance.
Distinguished from verisimilitude in that it values the subjective experience of seeing over the objective appearance of the subject.
A natural, non-toxic gum from acacia tree sap used as the binder in watercolor paint. Added to paint to increase viscosity and intensify color; diluted with water and applied to paper as a sealant to reduce absorbency, or applied over a finished painting as a varnish.
An acrylic-based primer with controlled absorbency that enables watercolor painting on non-traditional surfaces such as printer paper, thin card, wood, or stone.
Calcined umber; stronger red-brown masstone with higher chroma than raw umber.
Presentation, Interactive Viewing and Contextualization
Deploy in model-viewer, tune tone mapping and exposure, set environment presets, document concept and viewing logic.
Interaction is part of the medium. Allow rotation and context to reveal the work over time, but maintain a disciplined lighting and exposure envelope so the sculpture does not become a lighting demo.
Building mid-tones and transitions with transparent glazes, managing edges, carving lights negatively.
Form emerges here. Reserve darks for the end and let edges do more of the modeling than outlines.
Alternate wet-on-dry for control with wet-into-wet for atmosphere; keep glazing transparent and clean.
Pool of networked machines distributing render jobs for speed and scale.
Creation and preparation of three-dimensional forms for visualization, animation, or fabrication.
The use of ultramarine blue as the primary shadow color, providing chromatic depth and visual weight.
A bolder choice than Payne's gray or neutral mixes; requires confidence that the saturated blue will integrate with the overall palette.
Hybrid concepts: critical conversation + ChatGPT critique, 2026-03-10
Merged SKOS concepts from two sources: (1) concepts_20260309.ttl derived from a critical dialogue (Claude), and (2) concepts_20260310.ttl derived from a ChatGPT critique of Saint Mark's. Overlap in compositional structure has been resolved by retaining the richer definition in each case. New organizing parents and granular children from ChatGPT have been adopted where they add genuine structure without redundancy. See editorial notes for derivation decisions.
A large, smooth area of color without visible brushstrokes. May be a single color, a dark-to-light gradation of one color, or a gradation from one color to another.
Late, selective sharpening; clean transparent darks; calligraphic marks confined to focal zones.
Placed sparingly, your darks operate like a signature: necessary, unmistakable, and final.
Aim for the minimum number of hard edges needed to seal the focal path.
Per-pixel opacity data used to control transparency during compositing.
The perceptual distinction between a subject (figure) and its surrounding area (ground), and the compositional interplay between them.
A treatment of reflective passages in which tonal contrast is deliberately restrained so that reflections remain visually active without overpowering the larger compositional hierarchy.
Adopted from ChatGPT source as a child of OpticalReflectionField. Useful precision for describing how reflections are subordinated to composition.
A value structure dominated by light values, creating a bright, luminous effect.
Mix table salt with water before painting, then apply the salt-water wash and paint colors into it; the salt causes pigment to disperse more broadly. Experiment with different salt-to-water ratios for varied results.
Continuing to add to a painting past the point where stopping would have produced a livelier, fresher result. Subjective and difficult to judge; evaluate each brushstroke's purpose before applying it.
The use of augmented reality technology to superimpose digital information ? such as graphs, annotations, or interactive data ? onto a viewer's perception of a physical artwork.
Includes smart glasses and mobile device applications that contextualize sculpture with navigable digital content.
The regular n-sided geometry forming the top and bottom faces of a tensegrity prism (for example, triangular for T3, square for T4). The number of sides defines the module family and repetition symmetries.
A tag used in Google Keep/Takeout to distinguish Keep notes intended for publication
The viewer's involuntary bodily sensation of mirroring the physical tensions, movements, or postures depicted in an artwork.
Applies when a work's depicted physical forces or gestures elicit a proprioceptive response in the viewer.
Paper type; a heavy-weight, slow-to-absorb paper featuring a very smooth finish; manufactured using steam, heat and/or pressure to to help the fibres (wood pulp and/or cotton) nestle very close together, making the paper very slow to absorb; sized for water media.
Painting with a damp sea sponge dipped in watercolor produces a highly varied, rough texture on the paper.
Candle wax applied to the painting surface permanently repels all subsequent paint. Used to preserve white paper or underlying color before painting; unlike masking fluid, waxed areas cannot be painted over later.
The distribution of visual weight within a composition to achieve equilibrium, whether symmetrical or asymmetrical.
Creating imagery through a series of dots applied with a brush tip; dimension is built by layering dots in various hues to create light and shadow, allowing colors to mix optically. Traditionally ideal for miniature-scale work.
A compositional area in which reflected light and color patterns become the dominant visual phenomenon, often reducing depicted objects into abstract chromatic signatures.
Adopted from ChatGPT source. Genuinely distinct from OpticalAbstraction: this is about a compositional zone defined by reflection; OpticalAbstraction is about the perceptual event of light dissolving description. Both are needed.
A surface treatment in which forms are rendered as flat, angular planes rather than smooth curves, producing a crystalline or digitally modeled appearance.
Commonly associated with digital modeling workflows where polygon count is deliberately kept low for aesthetic effect.
A compositional device in which a prominent foreground element, often a figure, is placed to frame the scene, establish scale, and direct the viewer's eye into the pictorial depth.
Common in landscape and veduta painting; the foreground element provides entry into the scene and a sense of spatial layering.
Synthetic fibers that behave similarly to natural hair brushes.
Design and verification activities for tension and compression systems where compression members do not touch and the network is in self stress.
Includes topology selection, routing, parameter sweeps, and solver assisted self stress search.
Define structural logic, tensegrity intent, figure-to-structure relations, geometry family, and expressive aims.
This stage frames meaning before any mesh is committed. Decisions about tensegrity, figure orientation, and geometric language act as constraints that later steps elaborate rather than correct. Clarity here shortens the entire project.
a trend or tendency in art, defined by a group of artists sharing a common philosophy, style, or goal
Artists' paint made with a water-soluble binder such as gum arabic, and thinned with water. Also the product of using the watercolor medium.
Integration of Figures and Structural System
Fuse figures with tensegrity elements, balance symmetry and chirality, and make tension lines legible as form.
This is the inflection point where the work either coheres or fragments. Integration must preserve structural clarity while allowing expressive deviations. Successful pieces feel inevitable at this stage, as if the figures could not be placed otherwise.
The placement of forms in front of one another to establish spatial relationships and depth.
Iron oxide and manganese oxide earth; cool dark brown with greenish cast.
Assembling multiple layers and passes into a final image, with grading and effects.
Document container supporting vector and raster content for print and delivery.
Technical method or treatment; (excessive) use of or reliance on technical terms or procedure.
A compositional strategy in which an architectural element such as an arch, doorway, or window serves as an internal frame directing the viewer's gaze into the pictorial space beyond.
Related to repoussoir but specifically involves built structures functioning as framing elements within the composition.
Computer graphics process is a step or set of steps performed in the creation of a computer graphics creative work.
Three dimensional. A form of expression represented in three dimensions. See sculpture.
Export, Optimization and File Preparation (.glb)
Consolidate scene, bake transforms, manage mesh density, verify PBR, export optimized glb with metadata hooks.
The goal is faithful portability. If a viewer or device changes, the sculpture should still read as intended. Tight asset hygiene prevents presentation layers from rewriting the work.
Projection of a 3D surface to 2D coordinates for precise texture placement.
Sketching the intended composition on the substrate before applying paint. Pencil lines may be lightly erased after blocking in with paint or left in place.
Gently scraping dried (or partially dried) paint off the paper using a razor blade, craft knife, sandpaper, cardboard, or credit card to reveal subtle details, irregular textures, or restored white space.
An opaque water-based paint similar to watercolor but significantly more opaque; can be applied thick or thin.
In a wet color wash, scrape small areas with the edge of a plastic piece or knife blade to produce an effect resembling sunlit rock faces.
Structural textures preferred: drybrush for architecture, granulation for botanical surfaces, restrained spatter.
Texture supports breath and structure; it should never upstage the value design.
Let pigment separation and paper tooth do the work before reaching for effects.
A watercolor technique in which large architectural surfaces are constructed through layered washes of mixed warm and cool pigments, producing chromatically varied but tonally unified stone or wall surfaces.
Adopted from ChatGPT source as a child of ChromaticVariationInWash. Narrows the broader concept to architectural application specifically.
Descriptions of the sense of twist in a tensegrity prism or module. A right-handed prism twists clockwise when viewed from above. Alternating handedness can produce symmetrical towers or balanced toroidal forms.
A group of pigments or hues organized around a shared warm or cool bias that functions as a coherent unit within a composition's color architecture.
Used when a painter deliberately constructs interlocking warm and cool pigment groups as a structural principle.
Applying a new color before earlier applications have dried, allowing colors to blend without hard edges or sharp transitions. Only partially controllable.
Religious, mythological, or culturally coded imagery embedded within a composition, whether as the primary subject or as secondary content within depicted architecture, mosaics, or decorative programs.
Source: 20260309. ChatGPT critique did not engage with iconographic dimension.
In plein-air or observational painting, iconographic content often enters the work through the depicted setting rather than the artist's primary intention, yet may function symbolically within the finished composition.
an art movement, prominent in 18th-century Italy, focused on highly detailed, realistic paintings or prints of cityscapes and landscapes, especially popular with Grand Tour travelers as souvenirs of famous sites like Rome and Venice. Key elements include precise architectural detail, often achieved with tools like the camera obscura, and two main types: veduta esatta (exact views) and veduta ideata (imaginary or idealized views, also called capricci). Masters like Canaletto and Guardi defined the Venetian style.
A substance that holds watercolor pigment in suspension, generally gum arabic or synthetic glycol.
A smooth finish multi-media drawing and painting surface.
A brush similar to a Filbert but with a pointed tip; ideal for painting single-stroke flower petals and leaves.
Materials used in the production of art.
Basic copper carbonate mineral used since antiquity; coarse particles yield bright azure, finer grades shift greener.
To spread over an area with paint in an aerosol form.
A painting technique in which a relatively dry brush is dragged across textured paper to create broken, granular marks that suggest rough surfaces.
Commonly used in watercolor to render stone, wood grain, or weathered surfaces.
Categories describing different orientations toward artistic practice.
A pigment and egg yolk emulsion, used in tempera painting.
The depiction of a surface changing orientation relative to the light source, communicated primarily through value transitions across adjacent planes.
Central to architectural and figure painting where volumetric solidity depends on clear value shifts between light-facing and shadow-facing planes.
A wet-into-wet wash in which colors are placed side by side and blended along their edges. A signature watercolor technique used to convey the natural scattering and bouncing of light and color, and to create abstract patterns.
Presentation, Interactive Viewing and Contextualization (RS)
Model-viewer as part of the work; environment presets as expressive devices; documentation to frame attention as medium.
Presentation completes the circuit. By inviting the viewer to orbit and re-orient, the sculpture unfolds as a timed experience. Attention is not a byproduct; it is a structural material on par with light and metal.
capture the energy, movement, and essence of a pose through quick, fluid, and expressive lines, focusing on the whole figure's action rather than details, often using a single "line of action" to convey flow from head to foot
primarily the observation of people in normal activities.
Embedded technical and rights information enabling attribution, search, and workflow automation.
Technique or style: The technique or style used to create the artwork Subject matter: The subject matter of the artwork Inspiration: What inspired the artist to create the piece Meaning: What the artwork means to the artist Context: The historical background, location, and time of the artwork
Notable tensegrity applications in architecture, engineering, the sciences and art.
Initial graded and variegated washes to set overall light, atmosphere, and major value masses.
This is the painting's breath. A single decisive pass often reads better than piecemeal local color.
One coherent sky-to-ground wash that locks the value horizon and dominant temperature.
A practitioner who derives income from artistic work and/or identifies publicly as an artist.
An element introduced into a composition to imply story, time, or psychological context beyond what is literally depicted. Distinct from purely formal composition strategies in its intent to generate meaning through implied sequence or situation.
Source: 20260309. Examples: a figure mid-jump implying imminent transformation; sacred imagery above an oblivious crowd implying ironic juxtaposition of divine judgment and ordinary life.
The arrangement and organization of visual elements within a picture plane.
A surface treatment composed of a reduced number of flat polygonal facets, producing a crystalline or angular appearance rather than smooth curvature.
Used in digital modeling and sculpture to describe deliberately simplified geometry that emphasizes planar faceting over anatomical smoothness.
The visual effect by which the tension network and compression members reveal their own load paths. Structural transparency is central to the aesthetic appeal of many tensegrity sculptures and installations.
A tensegrity form in which compression members occupy positions consistent with icosahedral symmetry and are held solely by a continuous network of tension members so that compression members do not touch.
Use this concept for high symmetry tensegrity exemplars. Distinguish it from a purely geometric icosahedron without a tension compression partition. For instances, record member counts, routing, and intended symmetry group with dedicated properties in the data model.
Common didactic models use six struts with a surrounding cable net; member counts and cable routing may vary while preserving non touching compression, global self stress, and approximate icosahedral symmetry.
The process of creating original artworks through image transfer from a prepared surface.
the process of analyzing a work of art and assigning it meaning.
The vad:VisualAnalysis annotation makes art interpretation synonymous with art visual analysis. To say they are not synonymous in practice and are separate steps is a false dichotomy, a pedagogical convention. The moment you choose to describe a composition as "tense" rather than "balanced" you've already interpreted.
A mathematical group describing the full set of symmetries of a geometric or structural object, including rotations, reflections, or other operations that leave the object unchanged.
Do not conflate with informal descriptions of visual balance. Reserve this concept for group theoretic symmetry as applied to geometry and tensegrity configuration.
Used for recording symmetry classifications of tensegrity structures, including groups such as A5, D3, or other point groups relevant to strut and cable arrangements.
The method used to create three-dimensional art.
Right-handed 3-strut tensegrity antiprism: upper ring rotated relative to the lower so that helical cross-cables trace a right-handed twist.
Identifies selected subject matter or concepts for use in entity qualification.
Left-handed 3-strut tensegrity antiprism: upper ring rotated relative to the lower so that helical cross-cables trace a left-handed twist.
A family of tensegrity structures with n struts arranged in a twisted, prismatic form.
A compositional band in which figures form a continuous or semi-continuous horizontal grouping across the picture plane, often mediating between foreground space and architectural structures.
Adopted from ChatGPT source as a useful child of HorizontalFriezeBanding. Adds specificity for figure-dominated middle registers.
The scope, risk, and complexity an artist pursues in their work.
Resolution-independent images defined by paths, fills, and strokes.
The dimension of artistic work occurring outside of active painting: thinking about subjects, problems, and possibilities during non-painting activity. Distinct from formal planning or sketching; a mode of continuous low-intensity engagement with creative questions.
Critical feedback, encounter with other works, and artist conversation all feed the contemplative practice without necessarily changing in-process decisions.
A canvas similar to oil painting canvas but treated with Gesso to accept water-based paints.
Popularly used by artists as a painting surface, typically stretched across a wooden frame.
A polyhedron with two parallel, congruent n-gon bases rotated relative to one another and connected by an alternating band of 2n triangles.
For n = 3, the regular triangular antiprism is the octahedron.
The overall spatial pattern formed by all tension elements considered as a single organism: how cables sweep, cluster, and define voids. This pattern often governs both structural behavior and visual identity.
The system of struts that do not touch each other but are stabilized by the surrounding tension network.
The natural precipitation of some pigments when water is added, producing a granular, speckled texture. Not indicative of poor quality or misuse; only certain colors granulate. Granulation medium can be applied to a dry or wet area, or mixed directly with paint, to introduce this fine-grained particle effect.
A paint made from combining gum arabic watercolor medium with a dry pigment color using a muller to create a smooth paste which is stored in a pan and allowed to dry. The pigment is identified by the label name and brand, and the binder is identified by material.
A brush with one straight edge and one sloping edge resembling a knife blade, ideal for painting thin or tapering lines.
The simplest tensegrity prism, usually with three struts and nine cables (a T3).
Using opaque gouache alongside transparent watercolor to add visual interest and vibrancy. Distinct areas of each must be maintained or the opaque/transparent contrast will be lost.
A wavy, uneven surface that occurs when water is applied to unstretched paper. Unlike backruns, buckling is never desirable and is never considered a happy accident; it is prevented by stretching the paper before painting.
The fundamental attributes used to define, analyze, and manipulate color in design, art, and physics.
Pixel- and vector-based image creation and editing practices, tools, and constructs.
A stable stand, with an angled board that supports an artist's painting .
Any substance applied to watercolor paper that repels water and therefore paint pigment. Wax crayons and oil pastels are common resists. Unlike frisket, resists are generally a permanent addition to the painting.
An image providing the background in a 3D object model viewer.
The use of specialized software to create 3D models by manipulating virtual, clay-like material using digital tools.
A set of interdependent components that interact to form a unified whole
A round brush with a thick base tapering to a very fine tip. Highly versatile and capable of producing many different types of strokes.
Transparent glazes for form and atmosphere; strong use of negative painting; edges moving in and out of focus.
This is your voice zone: where abstraction and depiction negotiate in real time.
Favor transparency; let value and edge quality shape the form more than contour lines.
The periodic tidal flooding of Venice's Piazza San Marco and surrounding areas, producing shallow standing water that reflects architecture, figures, and sky. A recurring subject in Venetian painting that combines documentary, atmospheric, and symbolic registers.
The depth distribution of acqua alta governs crowd behavior: figures cluster where water is shallow enough to keep feet dry, and the crowd's edge maps the depth threshold. This can be encoded compositionally rather than described.
A process used in the production of a painting as a creative work.
Depictions of buildings, monuments, and built environments as primary subject matter.
Category head for all sculpture related concepts in this scheme.
The compositional and chromatic relationship between a depicted figure and its surrounding environment, determining whether the figure appears integrated with, separated from, or emerging out of its setting.
Narrower than figure-ground in that it specifically addresses the integration of figures within depicted environments rather than abstract perceptual contrast.
Carbon black produced from incomplete combustion of oils or resins; deep masstone, slow drying in oil.
Links a tensegrity configuration to its chirality value (left-handed or right-handed).
A transparent layer of warm-hued pigment applied over dried passages to unify color temperature and enhance the sensation of warm light.
Distinct from general glazing in that it specifically addresses temperature modification rather than value or chroma adjustment.
A compositional strategy in which visual elements are distributed relatively uniformly across the picture surface, minimizing traditional figure-ground hierarchy and creating an immersive field effect.
Applies to works where the pictorial surface functions as a continuous field rather than a staged scene with distinct foreground and background.
Simulation of light, image synthesis, and multi-pass assembly into finalized imagery.
A dominant element within a composition that stabilizes the viewer's attention and organizes surrounding forms around it.
Applies to any element?architectural, figural, or abstract?that serves as the primary point of compositional stability.
Complementary colors are directly opposite each other on the color wheel. In other words, they are the colors that are furthest apart from each other in terms of hue and color temperature. e.g Red and Green, or Orange and Blue. Complementary colors contrast with each other when placed side by side. When mixed together they tend to cancel each other out, forming a 'Muddy' neutral color.
Lifting pigment from a wet wash using crumpled paper towel or absorbent tissue in a soft, predictable way. Rotate and re-crumple the paper to avoid repeating patterns. Effective for lifting clouds from a wet sky wash.
Thick white gouache is painted to preserve white paper areas and allowed to dry, then completely covered with pigment ink. Once the ink dries, a water spray and bristle brush dissolve the gouache, revealing white paper beneath.
The conceptual range between fully representational depiction and pure abstraction, along which a work may be situated according to its degree of fidelity to observed appearances versus formal invention.
Use when positioning a work's degree of abstraction relative to representation, especially in hybrid or semi-abstract approaches.
This is a rather flat scheme. Mostly an operational aid.
All KeepNote instances for painting belong to this scheme.
Left-handed 4-strut tensegrity antiprism with left-handed helical cross-cables.
A comprehensive reference collection of historical pigment samples held at Harvard University, used as a standard for pigment identification and authentication in art conservation.
Serves as the gold standard physical reference for conservators identifying historical pigments in artworks.
Policies and conversions (ICC) that keep colors consistent across devices and media.
Lightly sanding a fully dry painting with fine sandpaper to produce a slightly weathered surface texture, which can then be adjusted with further washes.
Legacy PostScript-based vector document format used for print and interchange.
Dull, earthy neutral colors resulting from mixing a color with too much of its complement (e.g. red mixed with green).
(of signals or data) expressed as series of the digits 0 and 1.
An artistic assessment usually involves an objective analysis of technical skills, composition, and adherence to specific criteria, often used in educational settings to track progress or judge competency.
A stable stand, supporting an artist's painting .
A perceptual phenomenon in which a stationary object appears to move when the viewer's visual system cannot anchor it to a stable reference frame.
In sculpture and installation art, this effect is often triggered by ambiguous depth cues, uniform backgrounds, and repeating geometric elements.
A species of weasel from Siberia. Tail hairs from the male are used to make the most highly prized and expensive watercolor brushes.
A system representing content, components, classes, or types of knowledge.
The application of tensegrity principles to biological systems, explaining how cells, muscles, and skeletons maintain form and function.
A band of human figures positioned between contrasting spatial systems ? such as a reflective foreground surface and an architectural backdrop ? functioning as a visual and chromatic hinge linking the two domains. Figures absorb and transmit color from both adjacent registers.
Adopted from ChatGPT source. Definition lightly expanded to include the chromatic transmission role identified in conversation.
Apply paint to an area then, while wet, press a piece of parchment paper onto the surface. Areas in full contact with the wash and areas held off by parchment bubbles produce a contrasting texture when lifted. Experiment with wetness levels; crumpled plastic cling wrap is an alternative.
A wash that transitions gradually from dark to light by incrementally adding more water as it progresses. Useful for painting skies and seas.
A tension member intentionally allowed to stretch under load. Elastic tendons are common in soft tensegrity and biomimetic models, where controlled compliance is desirable.
The use of cast or attached shadows not merely to describe illumination but as an independent linear or structural drawing system superimposed on the image.
Applies when shadows function as a second compositional drawing layer rather than passive tonal modeling.
Formal definition of a device or working color space enabling consistent color reproduction.
Small, rapid studies to iterate on composition, value grouping, and focal hierarchy.
The visual suggestion of movement in a static artwork achieved through directional vectors, figure orientation, and compositional tension.
Distinct from actual kinetic art; refers to the perceptual experience of motion in works that are physically still.
Image generation and lighting tests used to evaluate form, material response, and legibility.
Pixel-based images whose resolution directly determines detail and print size.
Opaque water-based paint such as gouache or tempera. Used to add solid color to transparent watercolors, and opaque white is used to restore highlights in muddy or over-saturated areas.
Lead antimonate yellow; historical warm opaque yellow with characteristic orange cast.
The process of creating a 3D sculpture using digital media.
A traditional wide, short-haired, long-handled Japanese brush with stitched goat hair, useful for natural-looking foliage and skies. Popularized by artist/author Ron Ranson.
Design approach driven by adjustable parameters to explore families of solutions.
Final adjustments after rendering: color grading, sharpening, denoise, and stylistic effects.
Triangulated surface format commonly used in additive manufacturing; no color or materials.
The presence of a distinct, risk-taking perspective in art criticism that makes unexpected observations, establishes hierarchies of importance, and demonstrates genuine perceptual engagement with the work rather than formal structural analysis alone.
Distinguished from technically accurate but voiceless criticism by its willingness to prioritize some observations over others, to be surprised, and to revise positions when corrected by the artist. The absence of critical voice is a characteristic limitation of AI-generated criticism.
A-Z Glossary Of Watercolor Terms (article)
Removing color from wet or re-wetted paint using a brush, paper towel, or tissue. A technique in its own right, not merely a correction method; forms the basis of subtractive painting. Lifting creates soft edges and reduces color intensity, leaving only undertones. Detailed lifts can be made with a slightly damp brush.
A consistent viewpoint placement in which the implied viewer stands just outside the depicted social gathering, at a low standing height, separated from the crowd by the foreground threshold zone. Creates a reflective, observational relationship to the scene rather than immersive participation.
Source: 20260309. Broader updated to ViewerPositioningStrategy. ChatGPT's EdgeObserverViewpoint covers the same ground with less depth and is discarded.
The edge position enables perception of optical phenomena ? reflections, shadow patterns, color interactions ? that immersion in the crowd would preclude.
Is the British convention for referring to Cold Pressed watercolor paper, it simply means 'Not hot pressed'
Left-handed 5-strut tensegrity antiprism with left-handed helical cross-cables.
(T)he digital age has ushered in an era of "algorithmicism"--the increasingly steadfast belief that everything in the world, from business processes to financial markets to interpersonal interactions and more, can be analyzed and broken down into discrete model that are representable and manipulable by mathematical/digital processes.
A point where cables and struts connect, transmitting forces between elements.
Copper acetate complex; transparent bluish-green noted for reactivity and historical stability issues in oil.
The technique of laying down a large area of even, consistent color by applying successive strokes side by side on a wet or dry surface.
The repetition of architectural elements such as columns, arches, or bays to create a visual cadence across a composition.
Distinct from general compositional rhythm in that it specifically concerns repeated built-form elements.
Texture encoding per-pixel normals to fake small-scale relief without altering geometry.
A hemispherical structure composed of struts and cables arranged for lightweight, stable enclosures.
The pleasing arrangement of colors based on their relationships on the color wheel or through repetition and variation.
The order in which a painter addresses different passages of a watercolor: which areas are laid in first, which are held in reserve, and which are completed last. In watercolor, sequence is partly determined by wet/dry requirements and partly by the artist's conceptual priorities.
Sequence decisions encode conceptual priorities: beginning with the most technically demanding or conceptually central passage differs meaningfully from conventional dark-to-light or background-to-foreground ordering.
A picture made with a pencil, pen, or crayon.
Rule driven modeling and numerical solving to maintain geometric or structural relationships.
Separately computed image channels (for example, diffuse, specular, shadow) for flexible compositing.
A compositional approach that determines the implied spatial or psychological relationship between the viewer and the depicted scene.
Adopted from ChatGPT source. Provides useful parent for ContemplativeWitnessPosition and related viewpoint concepts.
Terms describing twist, handedness, rotational order, and other geometric/symmetry properties of tensegrity structures.
Mounting, matting, framing under glazing; documentation, metadata, archival storage conditions.
A strong frame and accurate documentation reinforce the painting's authority and provenance.
Use archival mats and UV-protective glazing; document pigments, paper, and process notes.
Light, economical under-drawing; occasional masking only for tight highlights or architectural edges.
You paint best when the drawing invites discovery rather than dictates outcome.
Use gesture for organics and sparing line for architecture; let paint do most of the describing.
The atmospheric effect on the appearance of distant objects: as distance increases, contrast between object and background decreases, details become less distinct, colors desaturate, and hues shift toward the background color (typically bluish, or reddish near sunrise/sunset).
Display, site selection, mounting, and environmental considerations for exhibition.
Export, Optimization and File Preparation (.glb) (RS)
Consolidate, bake transforms, reduce heavy meshes, confirm PBR maps, export glb with RDF hooks for cataloging.
The quieter this step is, the better. Clean exports and stable metadata keep the experience consistent across platforms, so curatorial attention remains on the sculpture and not on file idiosyncrasies.
A three-dimensional work designed to be viewed from all angles, with the composition changing meaningfully as the viewer circumnavigates it.
Distinguishes genuinely multi-viewpoint works from essentially frontal compositions.
Named classes, modules, and families of tensegrity configurations and how they repeat or scale.
consists of pigment mixed with gum arabic, glycerin and a wetting agent
A condition where the structure's internal forces can be calculated purely from equilibrium equations.
The introduction of a figure or element in arrested motion that implies imminent change, destabilizing the temporal stillness of the surrounding composition.
Applies when a single element's implied movement threatens to transform the depicted scene, distinguishing it from general figure-in-motion treatment.
Flexible, high-bit-depth raster format favored for archival and print workflows.
Planning and execution stages that produce a sculpture from concept to realized work.
Covers ideation, studies, modeling, assembly, finishing, and installation workflow.
A deformation mode in which the structure can change shape without stretching or compressing its members.
The use of dark-valued elements surrounding a lighter focal area to create contrast-based separation and direct the viewer's attention inward.
Distinct from repoussoir in that the framing elements need not be foreground objects but can be any surrounding dark masses such as hair, clothing, or background.
A compositional subject centered on a doorway, gate, or passage that functions as a psychological boundary between accessible and inaccessible space.
Distinct from architectural framing device in that the threshold itself is the subject, not merely a compositional tool.
A short-haired brush with a straight edge. Useful for laying down washes of all kinds and particularly suited to hard-edged shapes such as mountains, tree trunks, buildings, and figures.
the underlying framework, composition, and arrangement of a work's visual elements according to specific principles to create a unified and meaningful whole.
A composition in which a gathering of people in a public space constitutes the primary human subject, distinct from portraiture (individual focus) or staffage (figures as scale markers). The crowd itself ? its density, movement, color, and social texture ? is the subject.
Distinguished from staffage by the degree of attention given to the crowd as collective subject; from figure painting by the absence of individual psychological focus.
Dipping a brush handle into fresh paint and dragging it through a wet wash to create unpredictable lines ranging from soft, feathered edges to solid dabs of paint.
The color wheel is a visual representation of the colors of the visible spectrum in order of Temperature laid out in the form of a circle. Color wheels can be useful to artists as they show the relationship of colors to each other. Color wheels can be used to develop color schemes.
Painting processes are the steps combining materials, techniques, tools and related concepts to produce a painting or to complete a part of the production of a painting.
small spatula-style knife used to apply or remove paint, or to add texture
The degree to which all parts of a painting share a comparable level of resolution and descriptive detail, creating internal coherence across the picture surface.
Used to evaluate whether disparate areas of a work agree in their degree of completion, distinct from overall quality of execution.
Intent setting, subject selection, value structure, color family, thumbnails and value studies.
Decisions here save the painting later. A crisp value map prevents over-modeling and keeps the work luminous.
Use thumbnails or small value studies to establish a clear focal pathway before the first large wash.
Terms describing mechanical behavior, analysis methods, and quantitative descriptors of tensegrity systems.
A configuration that achieves maximum apparent stability or span with the fewest necessary members. The term highlights tensegrity's economy of means as an aesthetic as well as an engineering goal.
Painting with a relatively dry brush that still delivers paint to the substrate, producing coarse, scratchy strokes that contrast with the smooth look of washes or blended paint.
The coordinated management of multiple compositional devices?value contrast, edge sharpness, color intensity, and detail?to guide the viewer's attention through a painting.
Broader than selective emphasis; implies systematic coordination of multiple devices rather than a single technique.
The artist's true organizing subject or motivation for a painting, which may differ from its apparent descriptive subject. The conceptual primary subject drives compositional, technical, and sequencing decisions even when the visible subject appears to be something else.
Source: 20260309. Example: in St. Mark's, the acqua alta reflections are the conceptual primary subject, while the basilica facade and crowd are descriptive content. The painting was begun and concluded with the reflections; all other passages were structured around them.
The deliberate juxtaposition of warm and cool color areas to create visual tension, enhance volumetric presence, or organize pictorial space.
Distinct from Temperature Shift, which describes a gradual transition; this concept addresses the opposition between warm and cool zones as a compositional force.
A pose in figurative art in which the body's weight is shifted onto one leg, creating an asymmetrical balance through the torso and hips.
Applies to both physical and digital figurative sculpture where classical weight-shift posture is referenced.
A clearly defined boundary between adjacent areas, created by painting onto dry paper or allowing previous washes to dry completely.
A book of swatches for all the paint colors in the palette. The swatch book paper is 140 lb. cold press.
Lossy compressed raster format balancing file size and quality; not ideal for heavy edits.
A measure of the unpredictability or information content in the distribution of color values across an image, where higher values indicate greater chromatic complexity.
Applied to paintings to quantify chromatic diversity and the degree of abstraction in color distribution.
A vertical stacking of prisms, often forming a repeating module.
Shadows rendered using saturated colors (typically blues or violets) rather than neutral grays or black.
Contrast with 'dead' shadows created by adding black or Payne's gray.
Keeps shadows luminous and integrated with overall color harmony; a characteristic of Impressionist and post-Impressionist practice now standard in watercolor.
Painting wet paint onto dry paper, producing crisp, hard-edged shapes. Also known as a glaze or layering wash.
An opinion of a work of art is a personal interpretation or judgment about its aesthetic qualities, meaning, and impact, based on an individual's subjective experience and perspective when viewing the piece; essentially, how someone feels about the artwork and what they think it conveys, which can vary greatly from person to person.
A cold-press watercolor paper in a block.
Domains in which tensegrity is applied or interpreted, including architecture, robotics, and biology.
A set of forms grouped within a related value range because they share a common light condition, such as all sunlit planes or all shadow planes.
Distinct from value range or value compression in that it describes relational grouping of forms under shared illumination rather than the span or narrowness of values.
Distinct from individual value relationships; emphasizes grouping of values into coherent families that organize spatial reading.
A tensegrity system deliberately designed for controlled motion or reconfiguration. Used in responsive architecture, adaptive mechanisms, and time-based sculpture.
Descriptions of the sense of twist in a tensegrity prism or module. A left-handed prism twists counterclockwise. Alternating handedness can produce symmetrical towers or balanced toroidal forms.
A compositional strategy in which the primary elements are arranged along a diagonal axis to create dynamic visual movement across the picture plane.
Applies when a diagonal element serves as the primary structural organizer of the composition.
Use when a diagonal element such as a table edge, horizon, or architectural line serves as the primary structural device in the composition.
Contrasts with horizontal or centralized arrangements; often used to introduce energy or visual momentum in still life and landscape compositions.
A tensegrity system in which one or more structural members are themselves tensegrity structures, creating a multi-scale nesting of compression and tension elements.
Use when a tensegrity element serves as a compression member within a larger tensegrity system.
A sculptural strategy in which human figures replace abstract struts as the compression elements within a tensegrity or structural system, merging embodied form with engineering logic.
Distinguishes works where the human body literally performs a structural role from works where figures are merely placed within or upon a structure.
A compositional approach in which different objects or areas of a painting are rendered from slightly different vantage points, refusing a single unified perspective.
Distinguished from linear perspective by the deliberate use of competing spatial orientations within a single composition, as in Cézanne's still lifes.
Rubbing alcohol applied to wet watercolor paint repels and displaces pigment, creating lighter areas, textures, and effects such as bubbles, swirling patterns, or abstract designs.
A 5-strut tensegrity antiprism with two parallel pentagonal vertex rings in relative rotation; cables form two 5-edge rings and five helical cross-cables to stabilize five isolated struts.
Chiral: left-handed or right-handed variants; canonical cable topology totals 3n for n=5.
The use of tensegrity structural principles as a symbolic framework for expressing themes such as interdependence, balance, and relational dynamics in art.
Applies when tensegrity is employed not merely as engineering but as a vehicle for humanist or philosophical meaning.
The deliberate sharpening of edges, values, or detail on specific elements within a composition to establish spatial and narrative hierarchy while leaving surrounding areas softer or less defined.
Refers to the compositional strategy of concentrating clarity on focal elements, not to photographic depth of field.
An area of demonstrated competence and reliability in an artist's practice.
What the artist does well and can depend upon.
Total number of structural members (struts + cables) in the configuration.
A substance added to watercolor paint to produce effects not achievable with water alone, such as texture, gloss, or glitter.
Mix a small quantity of dish soap with water and paint in a deep dish. Using a straw, blow bubbles in the soapy paint mixture until they fill the dish, then scrape the pigment-traced bubbles onto the paper. The resulting texture replicates the bubble shapes that formed and popped.
Computer software used to create, manipulate, and render three-dimensional digital models of objects, figures, or environments.
Encompasses tools such as Blender, ZBrush, and Maya used in digital sculpture, architectural visualization, and artwork prototyping.
A scheme containing all tensegrity terms. A controlled vocabulary of concepts related to tensegrity structures, analysis, fabrication, perception, and history.
Watercolor paper sold as multiple sheets glued around all edges, minimizing cockling and eliminating the need to stretch paper.
Pressing objects (brush handles, empty ballpoint pens, blunt knives) into paper while a wash is still wet. The compressed areas absorb more pigment than the surrounding paper, leaving interesting dark marks.
A characteristic, recurring selection of colors that becomes recognizable as part of an artist's visual identity.
Can be a strength (instant recognizability) or a limitation (predictability).
The depiction of human figures as reflected images in water or other reflective surfaces, often rendered with chromatic and formal distortion.
Distinct from architectural reflection; refers specifically to the mirrored presence of human forms in standing water or similar surfaces.
A spatial configuration in which two or more discrete structures interpenetrate such that they cannot be separated without breaking the integrity of at least one, yet their respective elements do not physically touch.
Applies to sculptural compositions where inseparability without contact creates both formal tension and symbolic meaning.
A technical assessment of a work of art is an examination of the work's technical execution, materials, and other aspects that can help determine its authenticity, history, and value.
Lossless raster image format supporting transparency; suitable for web and compositing.
Watercolor paint in tube form, squeezed onto a palette like toothpaste. The alternative to pan paint, in which the paint is solid and must be reactivated with water.
"Spatter" scatters small, controlled paint droplets across the surface, typically by flicking a loaded brush, producing a delicate effect. "Splatter" implies a larger, more chaotic distribution from a more forceful application.
A gradual transition between areas with no distinct boundary, typically achieved through wet-into-wet application.
Combining two or more distinct mediums or materials in a single work.
The process of turning a graphic representation of structured data into a creative work.
The source of the interpretation is Google Gemini
The brightness or hue of a color. Paint straight from the tube is at maximum chroma.
The three-dimensional art-making method of transforming raw materials into a finished form through four primary techniques: modeling, carving, casting, or constructing.
A condition in which the viewer's physical movement, perceptual choices, or sustained attention are required to complete or activate the meaning of an artwork.
Distinct from interactive art in that participation may be perceptual rather than technological.
Arsenic trisulfide; brilliant lemon to golden yellow with known incompatibilities (e.g., with lead and copper pigments).
A compositional strategy in which a cast shadow is treated as the principal visual element, carrying greater pictorial weight or narrative significance than the object casting it.
Applies when the shadow is deliberately given more visual authority than the source object, inverting the conventional hierarchy between substance and projection.
Applies when the composition is deliberately arranged to give shadows full visual weight, such as offsetting objects to allow shadow forms to dominate the picture plane.
A compositional element such as foliage, lattice, or fabric that partially obscures the primary subject, creating tension between revelation and concealment.
Applies to any element that screens the focal subject, distinct from repoussoir which frames rather than obscures.
The process includes compositional layout, palette choices and selection of techniques.
The source of the interpretation is Anthropic claude.ai
Apply fabric such as gauze to a wet wash or dry paper, shaping as needed. Paint over the fabric, let dry, then remove to reveal the fabric's texture. Results vary by color and fabric type.
The use of a double-helix form in visual art as a reference to genetic structure, biological generation, or recursive organization.
In sculptural contexts, may function simultaneously as structural element and symbolic reference to DNA or life processes.
Hydrated iron oxide earth; staple yellow earth with greenish to orange undertones depending on source.
The core idea, theme, or intention driving an artwork, prioritizing the artist's message over pure technical skill.
Exploratory imagery that communicates ideas, tone, and direction before production assets are made.
a specific medium or established form of artistic expression, such as painting, music, film, or literature, designed to create aesthetic, meaningful, or communicative works
Lifting, soft scrubbing, and re-glazing to unify; remove masking; resolve value hierarchy.
This is where the painting often clicks: the hierarchy becomes legible and the mood locks in.
Use lifting to reclaim light and re-glazes to bind passages into coherent atmosphere.
The deliberate ordering of visual elements so that the viewer's attention is guided through a structured sequence of primary, secondary, and subordinate focal points.
Achieved through variations in color, scale, material, position, or contrast to establish dominant and subordinate elements.
Encodings for storing and exchanging raster, vector, and 3D data.
The ratio of internal force to member length. Force density is widely used in computational form-finding of tensegrities to solve for equilibrium shapes.
A value structure dominated by dark values, creating a somber or dramatic effect.
Named physical components of a tensegrity system and how they interact to carry load.
A structural system that achieves stability by balancing isolated compression elements within a continuous tension network.
Sculptural Modeling of Figures and Form Elements (RS)
Model figures as agents of tension; pose to express force vectors; refine silhouette and negative space for structural read.
Figures neither dominate nor decorate; they participate. The success of this step is measured by whether a pose clarifies the force diagram of the whole. If the pose can be swapped without loss, the modeling is not yet specific enough.
A set of vertices, edges, and faces describing the surface of a 3D object.
A compositional and conceptual approach in which reflected imagery in water or other surfaces serves as the generative motif and true subject of the work, rather than the objects being reflected.
Applies when the artist treats reflections not as secondary effects but as the conceptual and procedural starting point of the painting.
A configuration in which alternating modules have opposite chirality. Antichiral patterns can produce toroidal, wave-like, or lattice forms with global balance even when each unit is individually twisted.
Software system controlling stroke behavior (pressure, tilt, spacing, opacity, flow).
Torn Japanese rice paper adhered to the painting surface with dilute PVA glue, matte acrylic varnish, or a neutral-pH adhesive, producing interesting and unpredictable textural results depending on the paper type.
Isopropyl alcohol dropped onto a wet watercolor wash evacuates significant pigment from the treated area, creating a halo of color around each drop.
The process of transforming a preliminary field sketch or study into a resolved painting, involving selective interpretation and elaboration of observed information.
Applies to workflows where a location drawing serves as the compositional and structural basis for a studio painting.
A genre of painting depicting formal state, military, or religious ceremonies, emphasizing the choreography and symbolic authority of ritual events.
Applies to works where the ritual structure itself, rather than individual narrative, is the primary subject.
The perceived warmth (toward red/yellow) or coolness (toward blue/green) of a color, used to create spatial depth and atmospheric effects.
Occurs when a more dilute mix of paint is applied into a wet area, causing the paint to spread outward and typically dry in a cauliflower-shaped pattern. Often considered undesirable but also deliberately created to suggest clouds, foliage, flowers, or abstract texture.
The mixing of colours in a semi-controlled way by adding new colour to a wash that hasn't dried; backruns can be an unwelcome accident, but are also deliberately created by some artists to represent abstracted clouds, foliage or flowers, or just to create a specific mood and for visual interest.
Open, publicly shared urban or ceremonial space ? plazas, palace forecourts, temple grounds ? where monumental architecture frames ordinary human activity. A recurring subject type in which everyday presence inhabits spaces historically associated with power, religion, or ceremony.
The tension between monumental civic framework and unremarkable daily activity is a productive subject for watercolor, which naturally captures both structural permanence and atmospheric transience.
A compositional arrangement in which two figures are presented in deliberate relationship to one another, creating a visual and thematic dialogue between them.
Applies broadly to sculpture and painting where the interaction between two figures is the primary compositional subject.
The arrangement of visual elements to indicate their order of importance and guide the viewer's eye through the composition.
Analytical and geometric vocabulary used to describe equilibrium, force states, and structural computation in tensegrity.
Typically a gum-arabic based watercolor binding medium.
The source of the interpretation is OpenAI chatGpt
People assembled in a public or ceremonial space, typically without directed collective purpose ? the milling, non-directional social activity characteristic of tourist sites, plazas, and cultural monuments.
The public gathering as subject situates ordinary human presence within frameworks of cultural, historical, or religious significance.
A compositional strategy in which secondary visual elements (such as shadows or reflections) become more visually assertive than the primary objects that generate them, reversing normal perceptual expectations.
Applies when the artist deliberately makes derivative visual phenomena (shadows, reflections) dominate over their source objects.
A watercolor technique in which forms are defined by painting the space around them rather than the forms themselves.
Particularly effective for foliage, floral subjects, and complex overlapping forms where traditional positive painting would be difficult.
A set of internal forces that maintains equilibrium without any external load.
A technique used in watercolor painting.
Permanent artists ink applied to a painting, then misted with a fine water spray while still wet to create soft, spidery textures that add an ancient, weathered quality.
The application of computational methods and mathematical metrics to analyze, classify, or evaluate visual properties of artworks.
Encompasses metrics such as edge density, color entropy, and texture directionality applied to artwork images.
Conceptual Structuring and Formal Logic (RS)
Tension and attention as core; figure orientation inward or outward; icosahedral and prism logics; viewer rotation as part of meaning.
Concept drives everything here. The decision to let figures address each other instead of the viewer recasts the sculpture as a field the viewer must orbit and read. The work asks for time and rewards it with shifting alignments of force and gaze.
The property by which a tensegrity prism, dome, or ring can be rotated about its axis by a certain angle and still appear identical. Rotational symmetry is often used to classify higher-order tensegrity assemblies.
Rule- and node-based methods that generate results from inputs and parameters, enabling reuse.
the effect whereby the position or direction of an object appears to differ when viewed from different positions, e.g. through the viewfinder and the lens of a camera.
the apparent shift in an object's position when viewed from different locations
Previewing how an image will reproduce on a specific device or substrate before final output.
Plain-text 3D mesh interchange format supporting geometry, UVs, and materials via MTL.
The art of making three-dimensional representative or abstract forms.
An edge-handling approach in which outlines are deliberately fragmented, softened, or allowed to merge with adjacent marks rather than being rendered as continuous lines.
Related to but distinct from lost and found edges; emphasizes the physical fragmentation of the contour line itself.
The technique of sustaining large architectural or ground-plane surfaces through subtle color shifts within a single value family rather than flat wash or detailed line modeling. Surfaces appear to breathe and absorb surrounding light rather than presenting as inert background.
Source: 20260309. Requires confidence in wash timing and pigment behavior; magnifies mistakes on large surfaces. Distinguished from granulation as a deliberate color rather than texture strategy. ChatGPT's ChromaticSurfaceModeling discarded as a thinner restatement of this concept.
The process of determining the equilibrium geometry of a tensegrity given its topology and element properties.
The deliberate repetition of a specific hue or color family across separate zones of a composition to create visual unity and coherence.
Applies when a repeated hue bridges otherwise distinct compositional registers or spatial planes.
The deliberate structural arrangement of color relationships across a composition, where hue, value, and temperature are organized to create a coherent pictorial framework.
Emphasizes the systematic, structural role of color in building the composition, beyond individual color choices or harmonies.
The ability of a tensegrity structure to absorb disturbances (impact, vibration, shock) and return to a stable configuration while maintaining structural integrity. This is crucial in robotics and deployable systems.
A technique combining ink pen drawing with watercolor washes. Traditionally done with dip pens but also achievable with markers, biros, or Rapidograph-style pens.
Yellow-brown iron oxide earth; semi-transparent and stable.
11x15 in on 300 lb cold-press as default; 9x12 in on 140 lb occasionally; tape edges, test swatches; proceed to immediate wet work.
This robust surface lets you paint decisively; it forgives correction without dulling the paper's breath.
300 lb supports assertive lifting and multi-glaze sequences without fatigue.
A gray produced by mixing two complementary or near-complementary pigments rather than using a neutral gray or black. The resulting gray retains chromatic memory ? oscillating between warm and cool ? and integrates more naturally into a color-driven painting than a pre-mixed neutral.
Source: 20260309. No ChatGPT equivalent.
Example from practice: turquoise mixed with a touch of Indian red produces a variegated gray well suited to sunlit stonework, allowing the architecture to participate in the painting's overall color warmth.
A small sketch or painting produced in preparation for the creation of a larger work.
A controlled vocabulary that provides synonyms, definitions, and related terms for a given word or concept.
The judgment to cease work on a painting before overworking diminishes its freshness or luminosity.
One of watercolor's hardest lessons; a sign of experience and discipline.
A painting process in which multiple transparent layers are applied in successive sessions to progressively build depth, color, and value.
Emphasizes the sequential, multi-session nature of glazing as a developmental process rather than a single application.
A thematic concern with the temporary, fragile, or dissolving nature of depicted subjects. Aligned with watercolor as a medium that resists correction and records the moment of making.
In Venetian contexts, manifest through flood water that reflects and destabilizes the image of enduring monuments.
The medium and the subject reinforce each other: watercolor's irreversibility and luminous fragility make it a natural vehicle for subjects concerned with transience.
A surface for mixing paint, typically with wells or depressions to prevent paint from running. Best watercolor palettes are pure white porcelain. Also refers to an artist's chosen color scheme or selection of colors.
A set of concepts and categories in a domain with their properties and relations.
The property of a structure being non-superimposable on its mirror image. In tensegrity prisms, chirality defines whether the twist between upper and lower bases is right-handed or left-handed. Opposite chiralities can influence torque, stability, and the visual rhythm of the structure.
Sculpture that employs tensegrity principles, using isolated compression members held in place by a continuous tension network, as both structural system and aesthetic form.
Use for sculptural works where tensegrity is the primary structural and compositional principle, not merely referenced.
The process of preparing to create a painting.
Art criticism is the analysis and evaluation of art, including its significance in art history and its communication with the audience
A condition in which one half of a structure is the mirror image of the other. Pure tensegrity prisms are typically chiral and therefore lack reflection symmetry, unless paired with an oppositely handed mate.
Workflow approach that preserves source data via layers, masks, and parametric nodes.
An unintended and unforeseen event that occurred during the course of a painting which nevertheless resulted in a desirable effect.
This better belongs under paintingTerm when that is available
Mercuric sulfide red, natural or synthetic; brilliant warm red with historic darkening issues in some conditions.
Dropping a new wet color into an existing wash to blend directly on the paper, creating interesting variations in color or tonal value rather than pre-mixing on a palette.
The quality of a painting's value relationships being organized into a unified, internally consistent system rather than appearing as disconnected tonal passages.
Applies when a critic evaluates how well disparate value areas read as a single organized system.
Computational Geometry and Parametric Construction (RS)
Generate prisms, icosahedra, toroids; chirality and inversion; solver checks; numeric sweeps; armatures for figure placement.
The computational step ensures clarity rather than complexity for its own sake. Chirality and scale sweeps become instruments for stating the piece more exactly, not for multiplying versions. The math lifts expression rather than constraining it.
It involves painting wet-on-wet, directly onto the paper, often in one sitting, without letting layers dry completely. This technique can create vibrant colors and expressive brushstrokes. Alla prima aims for a fresh, immediate look with visible brushstrokes and blending of colors on the paper.
A compositional structure in which the lower portion of a picture echoes or mirrors the upper portion through water reflections, creating two competing but related visual systems: the solid architectural reality above and its optical reinterpretation below.
Source: 20260309. Broader updated to OpticalCompositionStrategy. ChatGPT's ReflectiveSpatialSymmetry covers the same ground with a thinner definition and is discarded.
Distinguished from simple symmetrical balance; here the lower register transforms the upper into color fragments and broken strokes, approaching abstraction while remaining referential.
Commitment to accurate representation of what is seen, as opposed to invention or idealization.
The artistic practice of creating a sequence of related works that progressively explore and refine compositional, technical, or thematic concerns.
Distinct from Serial Variation in that development implies a directional arc ? works build on predecessors, refining compositional, technical, or thematic concerns over time. The sequence has trajectory. See also: Serial Variation.
Use when criticism addresses how an artist's work evolves across a sequence of related paintings, noting cumulative learning or increasing sophistication.
A gelatin-based substance used in watercolor paper manufacture, canvas stretching, and panel preparation. Slows paint absorption so most pigment remains on the surface; maintains structural integrity when wet, reduces buckling and warping, and encourages paper to return to its original shape when dry.
Some references to sizing consider it a process/tool
to bring into accord, harmony, or sympathetic relationship; adjustment or alignment.
A visual style in digital art characterized by visibly faceted polygonal surfaces, deliberately retaining geometric angularity rather than simulating smooth organic form.
Applies when the faceted polygon appearance is an intentional aesthetic choice rather than a technical limitation.
A composition oriented with the width greater than the height.
Watercolor painting methods adapted to the smooth, non-absorbent surface of hot pressed paper, which demands decisive brushwork and rewards crisp edges while punishing overworking.
Distinct from cold press or rough paper techniques; the smooth surface causes pigment to sit on top rather than settle into texture.
The angular displacement between the top and bottom polygons of a tensegrity prism. The twist angle directly determines chirality and overall form, and strongly influences stiffness and articulation between modules.
Algorithm that smooths coarse meshes by iterative subdivision to create high-quality curvature.
A string of five centuries-old seaside villages on the rugged Italian Riviera coastline, characterized by colorful terraced houses built into steep cliffs.
Used to tag artworks depicting or inspired by the five villages of Monterosso, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola, and Riomaggiore.
A tensegrity structure designed to fold and expand, used in space structures and robotics.
Buckminster Fuller's theoretical framework describing how systems gain stability and order through the interaction of independent components; tensegrity exemplifies this principle.
Areas of watercolor paper intentionally left unpainted to represent the lightest values, exploiting the paper's inherent luminosity.
Distinguished from white gouache or lifting techniques; refers specifically to planning and preserving untouched paper.
A tensegrity variant in which struts and cables are arranged in a closed circular or toroidal configuration, forming a ring-shaped self-stressing structure.
Symbolically associated with cycles, infinity, and orbital motion in sculptural contexts.
The process includes steps for soaking the paper, stretching it and taping the paper to a stable panel to support it during painting.
Packaging and distributing models and media for archival, review, or exhibition.
Includes glTF, USD, and related formats and manifests.
Real time viewing and interaction for sculpture models in browsers or kiosks.
Covers viewer components, environment maps, and performance considerations.
The substance that gives paint its color; natural or synthetic, usually an insoluble powder. In watercolor, pigment is mixed with water and gum arabic to create paint.
Balance achieved through the arrangement of unlike elements that nevertheless feel visually equivalent.
Generally considered more dynamic and sophisticated than symmetrical balance.
The visual suggestion of physical forces such as tension, compression, gravity, or rotation within a static composition, perceived through pose, orientation, or structural arrangement rather than actual movement.
Distinct from kinetic art; the forces exist in the viewer's inference rather than in actual motion or mechanical operation.
An approach to painting that abstracts visual experience based on how perception actually operates, emphasizing optical phenomena over descriptive representation while retaining ties to observed reality.
Distinguishes work that departs from plein-air realism toward analytical treatment of perception without fully abandoning representation.
A yellowish fluid from cow gall bladders, mixed with alcohol and used as a wetting agent in watercolor painting and paper marbling. A drop added to a wash improves flow and corrects uneven absorption, beading, or white specks.
The intense, directional sunlight characteristic of Mediterranean climates, producing strong value contrasts, hard cast shadows, and warm-cool temperature relationships on architecture and landscape.
Used in art criticism to describe a specific quality of illumination that demands committed value structure and shadow cooling.
Persons or things that assume roles or produce a specified results.
A progressive transition from warm to cool colors (or vice versa) across a pictorial surface, used to establish spatial depth or atmospheric effect.
Use for systematic warm-to-cool progressions that structure spatial recession, as distinct from localized temperature contrasts.
A color's relative lightness or darkness
Cling wrap arranged over a wet wash and left until fully dry produces fairly predictable rock-like textures.
The application of tensegrity principles at multiple nested scales within a single structure, where a tensegrity subsystem functions as a structural member within a larger tensegrity system.
Describes recursive structural organization where tensegrity operates simultaneously at macro and meso scales.
Visual programming paradigm connecting operators as nodes for materials, compositing, or geometry.
Standardized Colour Index designation for a pigment (e.g., PB29, PR106, NR9).
Embellish a basic graphic representation of data.
A cold-press watercolor paper in sheets with an extra rough surface.
The application of the structural principle where isolated compression components are suspended within a continuous network of tension members.
The connectivity pattern of cables and struts independent of their specific geometry.
Human figures included in a composition primarily for scale, animation, or compositional purposes rather than as psychological subjects.
Distinguished from portraiture or figure painting where the human subject is the primary focus.
A compositional organization in which the picture plane is structured as stacked horizontal layers or registers, each carrying a distinct visual identity: foreground ground plane, human activity band, architectural frame, upper atmospheric field. Produces a decorative surface pattern alongside implied depth.
Source: 20260309. Broader updated from the:Composition to the:SpatialCompositionStrategy. ChatGPT's SpatialBanding discarded as redundant with this concept.
Related to Byzantine and medieval mosaic register composition, and to the organization of narrative friezes on architectural facades. Distinguished from strict tonal stratification by its emphasis on social and spatial layering rather than purely tonal depth.
Work characterized by depiction of specific, visited, remembered locations rather than invented or studio compositions.
Has a travel-journal quality; records of encounter with particular sites.
A complex structure built from repeating tensegrity cells, analogous to biological systems.
Focuses strictly on the visual elements and physical qualities of the artwork.
Texture driving geometric displacement at render time for true surface relief.
A tensegrity configuration in which the structural system is deliberately left unresolved, with missing members preventing the achievement of full self-stabilizing equilibrium.
Distinguishes deliberately unfinished tensegrity systems from complete ones, often used for metaphorical effect in sculptural contexts.
The organization of value layers to imply depth, with distinct tonal zones corresponding to spatial planes.
Sculptor who first realized tensegrity structures in physical form, notably works such as 'Needle Tower' and 'X-Piece'.
produced in a range of grit sizes and is used to remove material from surfaces, either to make them smoother or to remove a layer of material
This refers to the brightness or dullness of a particular color. A color's saturation, brightness or strength
A compositional structure in which upper and lower registers carry contrasting symbolic registers ? the transcendent or permanent above, the mundane or transient below ? creating a vertical hierarchy of meaning that mirrors theological or philosophical frameworks.
Example: St. Mark's Basilica facade, where Last Judgment mosaics preside over the crowd in the piazza, and acqua alta reflections dissolve both into impermanence. Three levels: sacred imagery above / human activity in the middle / optical dissolution below.
Professional-grade paint formulated to resist chemical reactions from water, UV light, and oxygen exposure. Contains more pigment than student-grade paint, allowing greater medium manipulation with less color shift.
The characteristic ways a tensegrity can oscillate or deform when excited dynamically. Modal behavior reveals resonance frequencies, softness directions, and stiffness distribution.
Hydrated chromium oxide; cool, transparent green introduced in the 19th century; good permanence in watercolor.
A figure depicted in active movement ? jumping, running, gesturing widely ? within a composition of otherwise static or slowly moving figures. Introduces implied time and sequence into a scene, suggesting an imminent transformation of the depicted moment.
Source: 20260309. Example: a child mid-jump at the edge of flood water implies the still reflective surface is about to be shattered. The figure functions as a temporal hinge as much as a compositional accent.
The use of cast shadows on the ground plane or adjacent surfaces to visually anchor figures and objects within a depicted space.
Particularly important in architectural and figurative compositions where elements must appear grounded rather than floating.
A flat, wide brush with short hairs, identical in shape to a Bright brush. Ideal for hard edges and square fields of colour; well suited to street-scapes and architectural subjects.
The juxtaposition of markedly different surface qualities within a single composition, such as rough against smooth or dense against open, to create visual tension and variety.
Applies to deliberate pairing of contrasting textures as a compositional device, not merely the presence of texture.
The use of additive manufacturing processes to fabricate sculptural components, often followed by surface finishing such as chroming or patination.
Covers the physical realization of digitally modeled sculptural forms through additive manufacturing.
A process used in the production of a creative work in the visual arts.
The combination of recurring choices in palette, technique, subject, and handling that make an artist's work recognizable.
A signature can be a strength (identity) or a constraint (predictability).
Range between darkest and brightest reproducible tones in an image or device.
Layer that applies tonal or color operations non-destructively to layers beneath it.
Evaluation in art is the process of assessing the value, quality, or significance of a work of art. It involves analyzing the work's techniques, elements, and overall impact. Evaluation can help to understand the cultural relevance, effectiveness, and artistic intention of a work. An artistic evaluation tends to focus on a more subjective judgment of an artwork's overall quality, meaning and impact
Watercolor techniques supporting development of texture in the painting
Influences can be many and varied. Artists can be influenced by other artists, both past and present. An artist's background, journey, and experiences can shape their work. For example, an artist's early experiences of the visible world can be deeply woven into their subconscious and carry over into their creative process. Also, basic visual factors like symmetry, complexity, contrast, curvature, color, and lines can influence aesthetic experiences.
A compositional arrangement in which two forms are non-superimposable mirror images of each other, as with left-handed and right-handed versions of the same structure.
In sculpture and architecture, chiral symmetry is used to create opposition or to emphasize a focal point between mirroring entities.
A round brush with hairs twice the usual length, ideal for long, continuous thin lines. Available in small sizes only (typically up to #3). Liners and riggers are functionally identical despite the differing names used by manufacturers.
A thesaurus aligned with the CWVA creative-process domain ontology for the visual arts
This thesaurus provides a vocabulary for describing data modeled by the CWVA ontology, http://visualartsdna.org/model/. Visit visualartsdna.org for more information.
passages are left economical while focal areas receive full attention. a design principle that emphasizes using only the necessary elements to communicate a subject or feeling effectively. It is the practice of achieving maximum impact with minimal descriptive details, colors, or lines.
The systematic use of distinct colors to identify, distinguish, or assign ownership among compositional elements, enabling the viewer to parse structural relationships.
In sculptural or diagrammatic contexts, color coding can reveal which elements belong to which system while maintaining overall chromatic harmony.
Material and lighting framework using measurable parameters (albedo, roughness, metallic) for realism.
A slow-drying medium with pigment suspended in an oil binder.
Waterproof ink applied to paper, allowed to almost dry, then scrubbed back with a water spray and rough bristle brush, producing interesting, unpredictable textures and shapes. Permanent once applied; best used before adding watercolor washes.
A six-color palette comprising three warm and three cool primaries (e.g. Cadmium Red, New Gamboge, Ultramarine, Alizarin Crimson, Lemon Yellow, Cerulean Blue). Provides the widest range of warm and cool color-mixing options with the fewest pigments.
The way in which different elements of an artwork are combined.
Mapping synthesized from prior chats; user practice summary, Nov 2025.
Compiled by ChatGPT per user request, Nov 2025.
Top-level digital sculpture processes mapped to Rick Spates practice; kept discrete and aligned to general concepts.
Top-level processes for digital 3D sculpture focused on tensegrity-oriented practice.
This scheme offers a sculptor-centered, geometry-aware view of digital practice. It emphasizes structural logic and experiential presentation rather than a film or VFX style pipeline. The intent is to keep the categories tight enough to remain useful for tensegrity-inspired work while still general enough for other structurally driven sculpture.
This scheme treats model-viewer and HDRI selection as integral parts of the artwork, not merely display layers. The sculptures assert tensegrity as both structural metaphor and viewing discipline: attention is the medium that completes the piece.
Categories are indicative and may iterate; not a rigid production line.
Related properties suggest a loose flow; implement actual order per project needs.
Close matches maintain semantic alignment while allowing personal evolution of terms.
A compositional arrangement in which two or more distinct volumetric forms pass through each other's spatial envelopes without physical connection.
In tensegrity sculpture, interpenetrating volumes create perceptual illusions of structural dependency between mechanically independent systems.
Brushes that contain animal hair such as squirrel, sable or goat
Sodium aluminosilicate sulfur chromophore from lapis lazuli; historic blue with characteristic warm masstone and reddish violet bias in tints.
A compositional strategy that juxtaposes areas of high color saturation against subdued or desaturated passages to create visual tension and direct the viewer's attention.
Distinct from value contrast; focuses specifically on the opposition between chromatic intensity and neutrality.
Clean borders, archival matting and framing under glazing; consistent documentation and metadata capture.
Your archival discipline supports the public reading of the work and its long-term care.
Coarse placement of forms and value masses to resolve staging before detail.
Quite simply, a hue is a color. This is independent of it's intensity or brightness. A color's common name (for example, cadmium red)
A manual, mouth-operated paint spraying tool that produces a fine mist, similar in effect to an airbrush or aerosol spray can.
Sometimes referred to as an atomiser sprayer
Uneven undulations or ridges that form when watercolor paper gets wet, causing painting problems. Minimized by stretching the paper, using heavier paper (140lb/300gsm or above), or using a watercolor block.
Terms used to describe visual arts creative works.
Number of distinct vertices in the configuration.
Architect and inventor who coined the term 'tensegrity' and advanced its theoretical foundations.
Guides such as thirds, golden ratio, and dynamic symmetry aiding visual balance and flow.
Non-destructive technique to reveal or hide parts of a layer using grayscale control.
Memory-driven scenes with light in motion; abstract passages inside representational subjects; small value studies as needed to stabilize focal energy before paint.
Your strongest starts happen when composition and value hierarchy are decided in miniature, so big washes can stay bold and un-fussy.
When a subject risks over-control, a 1 to 3 inch value thumbnail clarifies the sharpest edges and deepest darks.
A practitioner who works with rigor, accumulated skill, and high internal standards, but for the love of the work rather than professional advancement.
Distinguished from hobbyist by level of commitment and skill; from professional by motivation and livelihood.
From Latin 'amare' (to love). Historically respected category, now often undervalued due to semantic drift of 'amateur' toward 'unskilled'.
A compositional strategy in which foreground figures are rendered with individual detail while more distant figures are progressively simplified into generalized silhouettes.
Distinct from atmospheric perspective in that it concerns the degree of figurative articulation rather than tonal or color recession.
Coordinated sequence of tools, data formats, and handoffs moving work from concept to delivery.
A horizontal zone at the base of a composition that separates the viewer's implied space from the depicted gathering or social field. Functions as both an entry point for the eye and a structural hinge between observer and scene.
Source: 20260309. Broader updated to SpatialCompositionStrategy. Identified as a recurring compositional habit across multiple paintings: Alhambra courtyard (dark pavement), Seoul palace (sandy ground with shadows), St. Mark's (acqua alta reflections). ChatGPT's EdgeObserverViewpoint discarded as a thinner restatement.
Can manifest as empty pavement, shadow pattern, or reflective water. When the threshold zone becomes the primary optical subject, it transitions from structural device to conceptual center.
Reference to the tradition of idealized human figure representation originating in ancient Greek and Roman sculpture, characterized by naturalistic proportions, contrapposto, and often nudity.
Use when a work explicitly references or echoes Greco-Roman sculptural conventions in pose, proportion, or nudity.
Salt or rice added to a wet color wash acts as a desiccant, absorbing pigment from the surrounding area and leaving lighter marks when dry and brushed off. Add after the sheen disappears from the wet wash for best results.
A visual art form involving the application of pigmented, liquid, or binder-based materials onto surfaces like canvas, paper, or walls to create images, express emotions, and convey ideas.
Right-handed 5-strut tensegrity antiprism with right-handed helical cross-cables.
A tensegrity variant in which multiple prismatic units are rotated and stacked to form a spiraling helical structure.
Distinguished from tensegrity towers by the continuous rotational offset between successive modules.
A highly polished or chromed material finish on a sculptural form that mirrors its surrounding environment and other elements of the work.
Relevant to sculptures where environmental reflection is an intentional aesthetic and conceptual element.
A watercolor technique in which a relatively dry, lightly loaded brush is dragged over a previously laid wash to create broken, textured marks.
Commonly used to suggest rough surfaces such as aged masonry or weathered wood.
The juxtaposition of different qualities of paint application within a single work, such as loose, broken marks against sustained, blended passages, used to create visual hierarchy or expressive differentiation.
Distinct from textural contrast, which concerns depicted surface qualities; touch contrast refers to the artist's handling and mark-making variation.
Principles governing the use, interaction, and perception of color in visual art.
The quality of emitting or reflecting light; in watercolor, often achieved through transparent washes over white paper.
Sticky paper tape used to mask off a white border or preserve areas of a painting.
A set of concepts and categories in a subject area or domain that shows their properties and the relations between them.
The specific hue chosen to represent shadows in a painting.
Shadow color choice significantly affects a painting's overall mood and luminosity.
The process of preparing the surface to receive the painting medium.
The process of producing a creative work using digital media.
A compositional strategy in which one area of a painting is rendered with sharp detail while surrounding areas are deliberately kept soft or indistinct, directing the viewer's attention to the focal subject.
Borrowed from photographic and cinematic terminology but widely applicable to painting where sharp-to-soft gradients guide the eye.
Taping a sheet of watercolor paper to a rigid support on all sides to prevent buckling and warping; keeps the surface flat during painting and ensures the finished work dries flat. Any paper under 300lb will warp if unstretched; stretching is unnecessary with synthetic papers or a watercolor block.
A condition in which the range of values is narrowed, often resulting in reduced contrast and diminished sense of depth.
Can occur intentionally for atmospheric effect or unintentionally as a technical limitation. Mid-tone compression is particularly common.
Implements and software used to create, manipulate, join, or finish sculpture.
Paint characteristic; the ability of certain paints and/or certain colours to cover completely, not allowing you to see through to lower layers; the opposite of transparent & translucent; ideal for over-painting.
A practitioner who engages in art-making casually, without sustained commitment to skill development or artistic standards.
Not pejorative; describes orientation toward the activity rather than skill level.
Informationalism is a concept of strengthening the capacity of information processing and communication, made possible by technological innovations.
People, theories, and framing ideas that shaped the development and cultural reading of tensegrity.
The concept that tension and compression roles can be interchanged in complementary structural forms, as seen in Gaudi's hanging-chain models and later explored in tensegrity practice.
Core ideas that define what tensegrity is and how it attains stability through balanced tension and compression.
Applying a thin wash of color over a fully dried layer. The transparency of watercolor creates a third color optically or darkens the existing one.
An artistic method in which a body of work is developed through systematic variation of parameters across a sequence of related pieces, generating meaning through accumulation and difference.
Distinct from Serial Development in that variation does not imply directional progression or refinement. The series generates meaning laterally ? through accumulation of difference within an established visual language ? rather than through improvement toward a goal. See also: Serial Development.
Applies to practices where individual works function both independently and as elements within a larger investigative sequence, as in Judd, LeWitt, or Monet's series paintings.
After a painting has been produced this is the process of preparing the painting for storage. This has tangible and intangible aspects, the latter includes capturing and perhaps publishing information about the newly completed work.
Selective textures such as drybrush, spatter, and granulation to support form and focal contrasts.
Texture reads best when it rides on good value design. Without that, it becomes noise.
Use texture to amplify structure, not to decorate. Favor pigment behavior and paper surface over tricks.
The central line about which a tensegrity structure is organized. In many prisms this axis aligns with the 'vertical' direction of stacking, setting both structural hierarchy and visual reading.
The selection and organization of colors an artist uses, either for a specific work or as a characteristic practice.
The application of tensegrity principles to the creation of sculptures.
Textures, HDR environments, shaders, and parameter sets treated as working material.
A dry brush technique used to lift paint from or add color to an area of the surface
Red, Blue and Yellow are called the Primary Colors because they cannot mixed from other colors but all colors can be mixed from them.
randomly determined; having a random probability distribution or pattern that may be analyzed statistically but may not be predicted precisely.
A structural configuration consisting of two or more independent tensegrity cells whose volumes overlap or interlock spatially without sharing mechanical loads.
Distinguished from compound tensegrities that share nodes or cables; linked tensegrities are mechanically autonomous but visually entangled.
Approximation of soft contact shadows caused by occluded ambient light.
Fresh water drops applied to a wet, near-dry, or dry area of color lift pigment in a fluid way, producing organic bloom shapes.
Quantification of image detail for print or viewing; DPI for print devices, PPI for pixel density.
Significant historical or cultural buildings such as palaces, churches, and public monuments.
Examples include the Alhambra, Venetian churches, Korean palaces.
The computational process of refining which members exist, how they connect, and how loads flow through them, in order to improve performance, efficiency, or aesthetic intent.
Natural madder lake from Rubia tinctorum roots; transparent cool red noted for delicate glazing and historical fading concerns.
Colors are divided into cool and warm. Colors that lean towards Red/Yellow are considered to be warm colors and colors that lean towards Blue/Green are classified as cool.
Ordinary, local, or traditional buildings constructed without formal architectural design.
Examples include barns, farmhouses, rural structures.
Colors in the red, orange, and yellow range that appear to advance visually and evoke warmth.
Single coherent atmospheric washes establishing temperature shifts and a global light scaffold.
When this pass is confident, later passages feel inevitable rather than labored.
Elephant Ear: warm vegetal gradient in one pass. Court of Myrtles: cool architectural field unified early.
Basic copper carbonate green mineral; granular particles give characteristic pale, slightly bluish green.
Iron oxide earth; warm to deep red-brown; stable and widely used since prehistory.
A mathematical system for representing three-dimensional space on a flat surface using converging lines and vanishing points.
A compositional strategy in which visual attention is spread across multiple areas of comparable interest rather than directed toward a single dominant focal point.
Used when a work deliberately avoids a single focal point in favor of sustained, exploratory viewing across the picture surface.
Dark accents, crisp passages, calligraphic marks, and controlled lifting to refine edges and emphasis.
Late, minimal, and precise accents keep the painting fresh and prevent overworking.
Place the sharpest edges and deepest darks only where they serve the focal path.
A composition oriented with the height greater than the width.
Brushes made from nylon, polyester, or Taklon. Generally stiffer and springier than natural-hair brushes.
The use of engineering or architectural structural principles as carriers of symbolic, emotional, or philosophical meaning in a work of art.
Applies when structural logic (e.g., tension, compression, equilibrium) is deployed to convey thematic content beyond engineering.
A system where the geometry itself resists loads efficiently, of which tensegrity is an example.
A color diluted by adding water; the more water added, the weaker the intensity.
Connectivity pattern and flow of polygons affecting deformation and efficiency.
A sequence of frames mapping intended color and lighting beats across a narrative or series.
A compositional strategy in which a cast shadow diverges from its source object in shape, energy, or character, functioning as an independent pictorial element rather than a passive optical effect.
Applies when the shadow carries distinct visual weight, gesture, or meaning that exceeds or contradicts the object casting it.
A state of apparent structural balance achievable only in a digital or virtual environment, where physical constraints such as gravity can be suspended by design.
Distinguishes digitally sustained balance from physically realizable equilibrium states.
Computational Geometry and Parametric Construction
Build primitives and constraints, encode tensegrity rules, run solver checks, and perform parametric transforms.
Here form becomes data. Parametric control and solver feedback ensure that variation does not drift away from the chosen logic. Outputs from this step should be clean enough to invite sculptural decisions, not fight them.
A compositional strategy in which a deep-toned or near-black background is used to isolate and dramatize lighter foreground subjects through strong value contrast.
Common in still life, botanical, and portrait painting traditions; related to but broader than tenebrism.
Materials, Light Logic and Rendering Setup (RS)
Polished metal and high-clarity edges; HDRI sets to maximize luminous read; control temperature and shadow for force visibility.
Lighting articulates tension with the authority of a chisel. The choice of HDRI is not cosmetic: it is how the piece announces its line of force to the eye. Treat reflections as drawn lines that happen to be made of light.
The practice of designing and constructing buildings
An architectural tensegrity system used to span distances with minimal material.
A watercolor wash in the presence of another material intended to affect the behavior of the wash
A compositional or structural condition in which opposing forces or elements are held in continuous, unstable balance, suggesting ongoing motion rather than static rest.
Distinguishes works where balance is presented as active and precarious rather than settled and symmetrical.
A tensegrity configuration with two parallel n-gon vertex rings rotated relative to each other, where discontinuous compression members span between rings and a continuous cable network links each vertex to two adjacent vertices on the opposite ring, yielding a chiral, self-stressed system.
For an n-strut tensegrity antiprism under this node: vertices = 2n; struts = n; cables = 3n (comprised of 2n ring cables + n helical cross-cables). Chirality is determined by the sense of relative rotation between vertex rings.
Describes topology independent of metric regularity; commonly realized as the canonical n-strut tensegrity prism (e.g., T3, T4, T5).
Torn cartridge paper placed on the painting; the exposed area is wiped with a damp brush or sponge to lift pigment. Works best with sedimentary, non-staining colors. Straight-edged paper can also be used for formal, geometric tonal changes.
A method of presenting digital sculpture through a web-based interactive viewer that allows real-time rotation, zooming, and manipulation of a 3D model, often with selectable environment backgrounds.
Refers specifically to the use of web components like Google's <model-viewer> for presenting digital sculpture as an interactive experience.
The heightened visual intensity achieved by juxtaposing colors that are opposite each other on the color wheel, such as red and green or blue and orange.
Applies to deliberate use of opposing hues to maximize chromatic intensity, as distinct from general color harmony.
An approach to representation that captures how things appear to human vision rather than their objective physical properties.
Distinguished from photorealism; emphasizes the experience of seeing over mechanical reproduction.
A vellum finish multi-media drawing and painting surface.
Grayscale image encoding distance from the camera, used for depth-of-field and atmospheric effects.
the art of drawing solid objects on a two-dimensional surface so as to give the right impression of their height, width, depth, and position in relation to each other when viewed from a particular point.
your point of view--how you see, understand, and interpret things, shaped by your experiences, beliefs, or location
The pool of water that forms at the base of a wash. Maintaining the bead is essential for a consistent wash, as streaks form if it dries out too quickly.
Balance achieved through mirror-like arrangement of elements on either side of a central axis.
A highly absorbent paper used to soak up excess liquid (ink or paint) from the substrate.
Terms used to describe the materials, techniques, tools and related concepts used in painting.
A flexible or tensile element that resists stretching forces and connects the structure's nodes.
The optical effect produced when closely juxtaposed warm and cool or complementary hues create a shimmering, animated surface quality.
Distinct from complementary contrast in that it describes the perceptual animation resulting from color adjacency rather than the structural relationship itself.
The visual quality of forms that appear to transmit or filter light rather than fully reflecting or absorbing it, suggesting semi-transparency and material thinness.
Distinct from transparency; refers to partial light transmission that diffuses rather than clearly reveals what lies behind.
The deliberate organization of shapes within a composition by relative size and visual importance, establishing dominant, subordinate, and accent masses.
Applies particularly to compositions with many similar elements, such as architectural subjects, where size differentiation prevents fragmentation.
The treatment of architectural forms as simplified volumetric masses defined by light and shadow rather than as collections of surface details.
Applies when architectural subjects are organized primarily through tonal mass rather than linear description.
Applies to pictorial representation of architecture where the goal is conveying structural weight rather than decorative surface.
Software and computational utilities used in digital 3D sculpture practice.
a parallel rewriting system and a type of formal grammar. An L-system consists of an alphabet of symbols that can be used to make strings, a collection of production rules that expand each symbol into some larger string of symbols, an initial "axiom" string from which to begin construction, and a mechanism for translating the generated strings into geometric structures. L-systems were introduced and developed in 1968 by Aristid Lindenmayer, a Hungarian theoretical biologist and botanist at the University of Utrecht..
Repeatable methods and procedures applied during creation and finishing.
Paint characteristic; the tendency for certain paint colours to allow light to pass through the paint film enabling layers beneath to be distinctly seen; the opposite of opaque.
Proportional relationship of width to height that determines framing and composition.
Proprietary scene format supporting meshes, rigs, animation, and materials.
Number of tension members (continuous tension) in the configuration.
The term "Abstract" is used to describe a painting that is non-representational. i.e the subject matter of the painting is not about the depiction of reality.
This is a reference to the realm of digital art.
This is different from the:digital with a very technical definition.
The use of color primarily to define form, spatial position, and compositional structure rather than to describe local surface appearance.
Contrasts with local color or decorative color; emphasizes color as an organizational force.
The depiction of natural scenery such as mountains, valleys, trees, rivers, and forests, especially where the main subject is a wide view with its elements arranged into a coherent composition.
The technique of preserving white paper areas in watercolor painting. Masking fluid (a rubbery liquid) is applied to paper and, once dry, can be painted over; when the paint dries, the fluid is removed by gentle rubbing and peeling, revealing the protected area beneath.
Chose to use 'masking' for the technique and 'masking fluid' for the material; however, 'masking' does not necessarily imply the use of masking fluid
Image synthesis method tracing rays to compute reflection, refraction, and shadows.
A Mat is a 'Window' of card that sits inside a picture frame between the glass and the painting. It has the aesthetic function of creating a clean border around your painting and the practical function of separating the surface of the painting from the glass.
Dull, muted grays and browns mixed by combining three evenly spaced color-wheel colors or complementary pairs.
The perceptual balance created when a work or composition appears poised, neither collapsing nor exploding. Visual equilibrium is the felt stability that mirrors mechanical equilibrium.
The deliberate treatment of transitions between forms, ranging from hard (sharp) to soft (diffused) to lost (merged).
Drying, Flattening and Surface Protection
Allow full dry time, flatten if needed, and apply optional fixatives or varnish protocols.
Patience here prevents surface damage and preserves the clarity earned in earlier steps.
Heavy sheets may need minimal flattening; consider no-varnish if presenting under glazing.
Pressing plastic wrap or fabric into wet paint to create a wide variety of textured effects.
A short-haired brush with hairs spread in a fan shape. Used for blending edges and mimicking textures such as fur, feathers, grasses, foliage, tree boughs, and ripples on water.
Sculpture conceived and realized through computational design tools such as 3D modeling software, often existing in both virtual and physical manifestations.
Encompasses works designed for interactive 3D viewers as well as those translated into physical media via 3D printing or CNC fabrication.
Paper choice and prep, taping or stretching, palette layout, water containers, test swatches.
A disciplined prep step protects spontaneity: fewer mechanical problems means freer painting.
Heavier sheets (for example, 300 lb) reduce cockling and support assertive wet-in-wet work.
The process of producing a basic graphic representation of structured data.
Scoring the paper with a stylus or brush handle immediately after applying fresh paint; pigment naturally settles into the recessed lines, emphasizing the scored details.
Structured overview compiled by ChatGPT, November 4, 2025.
A scheme covering common terminology used across contemporary digital fine art workflows from concept to output.
Relationships are indicative (not exhaustive) and aim to aid discovery across adjacent practices.
small cakes of watercolor paint that come in half-pan or whole-pan sizes
Liquid latex used to preserve the white of the paper and to create textures
The deliberate progression from warm colors in the foreground to cool colors in the distance, creating spatial depth.
A fundamental technique for establishing pictorial depth without relying solely on linear perspective.
The rough, untrimmed edges of certain brands of watercolor paper.
Records describing the work, its provenance, process, and technical details.
A pen nib used to apply masking fluid, creating sharp edges and fine lines of resistance when watercolor is applied over the dried mask.
The architectural tradition of the Muslim-ruled territories of the Iberian Peninsula and North Africa, characterized by horseshoe arches, intricate geometric ornament, courtyards, and water features.
Encompasses landmark sites such as the Alhambra, the Mezquita, and the Giralda frequently depicted in Orientalist and travel painting traditions.
An approach to painting that prioritizes the inherent surface color of individual objects over relational tonal or chromatic organization across the composition.
Often identified in criticism as a developmental stage that precedes mass-based or relational color organization.
Focuses on the ideas, intentions, and cultural context behind the work.
A rigid element that carries compressive load and does not directly contact other struts.
The use of network structures ? physical, social, or digital ? as a metaphorical framework in art to represent interconnection, dependency, and the transmission of influence among entities.
Applies to artworks that employ graph or network structures to convey relational meaning beyond their physical or structural function.
A technique of building surface texture through overlapping sets of parallel lines or strokes laid at varying angles, creating density and visual vibration.
In watercolor, refers to layered brushstrokes rather than pen lines, used to build complex ground surfaces.
Analogous colors are colors that are adjacent on the Color Wheel. e.g. blue, blue/green, green.
Depictions of plants, flowers, and garden settings as primary subject matter.
A liquid latex-and-ammonia composition or adhesive film used to mask areas where paint is not wanted, preserving white space. Liquid frisket dries quickly and peels or rubs off easily when no longer needed; adhesive film must be cut to shape and is removed via its low-tack adhesive.
This could be considered a material, as well
An artistic practice in which a sculptor produces a sequence of related works that systematically vary parameters such as structure, material, scale, or content, generating meaning through variation and accumulation.
Distinguishes deliberate serial investigation from unrelated individual works; precedents include Judd, LeWitt, and Rodin's thematic groupings.
An artwork created to exist in a particular location, with its meaning and form shaped by the physical, social, or architectural characteristics of that site.
Applies to works whose placement in a specific environment is integral to their conceptual and formal impact.
The steps performed in the creation of a computer graphics creative work.
The overall organization of light and dark areas within a composition.
Sculptural Modeling of Figures and Form Elements
Model figures and forms with sculptural intent, refine silhouette and negative space, prepare topology for integration.
Modeling choices should serve force readability. Silhouette, proportion, and the treatment of negative space all contribute to whether tension and compression read as legible structure rather than decoration.
High-range panoramic image used as a light source and reflection environment in rendering.
the quality of the execution of a painting; an artist's characteristic handling of the paint. 'Manet's sensuous facture'
The most commonly used type of watercolour paper; a heavy weight; absorbent paper featuring a pronounced toothy finish and sized to accept watermedia (see; sizing).Highest quality cold pressed papers may be hand-made and will contain 100% cotton fibres; they're loved for their irregular rough texture and reliable performance and absorbency
Light drawing or transfer, masking fluid placement, planning hard and soft edges.
The more the pencil dictates, the less the wash can discover. Let paint lead whenever possible.
Keep lines minimal; think scaffolding, not blueprint. Mask selectively to preserve crucial highlights.
A sculptural or pictorial convention in which a transient, dynamic action is captured and held in permanent stasis, emphasizing the tension between movement and stillness.
Applies broadly to sculpture and painting depicting figures in mid-action poses that imply temporal suspension.
Iron(III) hexacyanoferrate; first modern synthetic blue (early 18th c.); deep greenish-blue undertone and strong tinting strength.
The web of cables that connects all struts, maintaining the structural form.
Practices that mitigate risk to people and works during fabrication, transport, and installation.
A fast-drying, water-soluble paint derived from milk protein with properties similar to gouache.
Defines how colors interact, harmonize, or contrast with each other within a composition.
The loss of stability in a compression member when the compressive force exceeds a critical threshold. Buckling sets an upper limit on how slender tensegrity struts may be before failure or large deformation.
Dipping a pen nib into watercolor paint and drawing on paper creates controlled, potentially very fine lines. A glass dip pen offers similar results with greater paint capacity.
XML-based vector graphics format with support for interactivity and scalability.
Alluding to something as a source of information.
A passage or zone in an otherwise representational painting where the behavior of light reduces objects to color, pattern, and gesture rather than legible description. The subject becomes the optical event rather than the depicted thing.
Source: 20260309. Broader updated to OpticalCompositionStrategy.
In the St. Mark's painting, the foreground reflections constitute optical abstraction: the basilica and figures are reduced to vertical color signatures and broken strokes.
A three-dimensional sculptural work that exists primarily or exclusively in digital form, typically experienced through screen-based or immersive viewing technologies rather than as a physical object.
Distinguishes from physical sculpture; use for works designed for digital presentation such as web-based 3D viewers.
Rubbed on dry watercolor paint, a Magic Eraser acts as fine sandpaper to lift and trap pigment, useful for effects such as creating a horizon line with deeper color below and lighter color above.
All google Keep note instances for digital artworks belong to this scheme.
The degree or rate of rotational twist along an axis. In tensegrities, helicity governs how strongly one polygonal end of a module is rotated relative to the other, affecting both structural response and visual energy.
Colored acrylic ink applied to watercolor causes pigment separation similar to oil in water. Other high-pigment watercolor alternatives such as Brusho produce comparable results. The outcome is a mixed-media creation with a distinctive dispersed appearance.
Basic lead carbonate; historic staple white with high opacity and warm tone.
A 3-strut tensegrity antiprism with two parallel triangular vertex rings, mutually rotated; a continuous cable network forms two 3-edge rings and three helical cross-cables, stabilizing three isolated struts in self-stress.
Chiral: realizable in left-handed or right-handed forms depending on ring rotation; typical cable layout = 2n (ring) + n (helical) with n=3.
The specific subject, theme, or main idea of a conversation, piece of writing, speech, or research.
The phenomenon by which discrete marks or color patches merge into unified tonal or luminous effects when viewed from the painting's intended distance.
Applies when the artist calibrates mark scale so that close inspection reveals constructed marks while normal viewing distance produces integrated surface effects.
A visual dynamic in which the viewer's perception alternates between recognizing representational content and experiencing abstract formal qualities within the same work.
Applies to works that deliberately sustain ambiguity between depiction and abstraction as a compositional strategy.
A figure within a composition whose posture or placement invites the viewer to identify with their vantage point, positioning the audience within the depicted scene.
Often a figure seen from behind or at the composition's edge, acting as a proxy for the viewer's gaze.
Pigments that absorb into the paper before the water evaporates, making them difficult to lift and prone to leaving a permanent stain. Staining is a property of the pigment itself, not an indicator of paint quality. Pthalo colors are common examples; viridian is a non-staining, sedimentary alternative.
Canonical set of historically significant pigments used in artworks across periods and regions.
The deliberate juxtaposition and interplay of warm and cool color passages to create spatial, structural, or expressive effects within a composition.
Use when warm and cool passages are set in active opposition rather than merely coexisting.
Constructing and organizing forms in a 3D environment, including part to part alignment and hierarchy.
Covers mesh, curve, surface, and rig based assemblies for sculpture scale and intent.
Using opaque white water-based paint (such as Titanium White Gouache or Chinese White) to clean up muddy areas, restore white space, create highlights, or sharpen blurry edges. Widely practiced despite some traditionalists viewing it as unconventional.
Scraping pastel dust off a suitably colored pastel with a sharp blade into a wet wash. Works well with sedimentary pigments and a similar-colored pastel; test the pastel color against a dry patch of the wash first.
The selection of what to include and exclude at the edges of a composition.
Adventurous cropping is cutting into forms at the edges to create dynamism and imply continuation beyond the frame.
A deliberately constrained selection of colors, typically three to six, from which all mixtures are derived.
Often used as a learning exercise or to achieve unified color harmony.
A Provider of art supplies either directly or indirectly to the public
Integration of Figures and Structural System (RS)
Bind figures to tensegrity nodes and axes; balance symmetry, asymmetry, and chirality; reveal readable lines of tension.
This is the point at which the work becomes unmistakably yours. When figure placements feel inevitable and the tension network reads at a glance, the sculpture acquires the calm of necessity rather than the noise of options.
Substances and stock used in constructing sculpture, physical or digital.
Includes digital assets as immaterial materials when used as primary modeling matter.
The deliberate variation of edge qualities throughout a composition, ranging from sharp to soft to lost, to control the viewer's eye movement and spatial perception.
Distinct from individual hard or soft edges; refers to the systematic orchestration of edge qualities across an entire work.
An inexpensive Chinese-style brush with a bamboo handle and natural hair (often squirrel), suited to loose, painterly strokes such as natural-looking foliage and skies.
A compositional strategy that juxtaposes organic or figurative forms with geometric or engineered structures to create visual and conceptual tension.
Applicable across media where curvilinear natural forms are set against rectilinear or mathematical structures.
A pattern is a design in which lines, shapes, forms or colours are repeated. The part that is repeated is called a motif. Natural patterns echo forms and patterns found in nature.
Carbonized animal bone containing hydroxyapatite; slightly warmer undertone than lamp black.
Paint that is applied to a canvas or panel in quantities that make it stand out from the surface.
Early-phase activities that establish intent, mood, and composition prior to detailed production.
A gesture of clasping right hands signifying greeting, agreement, or guest-friendship, widely depicted in ancient Greek and Roman art as a symbol of bond or covenant.
In figurative sculpture, dexiosis encodes a narrative of alliance or recognition that contrasts with surrounding gestures of conflict.
Number of compression members (discontinuous compression) in the configuration.
Right-handed 4-strut tensegrity antiprism with right-handed helical cross-cables.
A 4-strut tensegrity antiprism with two parallel square vertex rings in relative rotation; cables form two 4-edge rings and four helical cross-cables to stabilize four isolated struts.
Chiral: left-handed or right-handed according to the sense of ring rotation; canonical cable topology totals 3n for n=4.
The coherent depiction of how a single or dominant light source affects all surfaces in a composition, with planes turning toward the light appearing lighter and those turning away appearing darker.
Emphasizes the systematic relationship between light direction and surface orientation across an entire composition.
The techniques by which a two-dimensional picture plane creates the illusion of three-dimensional space extending into the distance.
The compositional strategy of grouping forms into large unified tonal masses to establish pictorial structure before addressing internal detail.
Emphasizes the grouping of forms into light and dark masses as a primary compositional act.
Selective lifting and edge softening on heavy paper; re-glazing to unify; remove masking; finalize value hierarchy.
This is where your paintings often lock: the structure clarifies and the mood coheres.
If a passage feels overbuilt, lift lightly and re-glaze to rejoin the painting's atmosphere.
A compositional risk in which the primary narrative or visual activity is concentrated in the central horizontal band rather than anchored at the base or directed toward the top. Avoided by many painters due to risk of static or split composition; effective when the middle band functions as a chromatic membrane linking contrasting upper and lower registers.
Source: 20260309. No ChatGPT equivalent. Succeeds when figures absorb and transmit color from both the ground plane below and the architectural field above, making the crowd a visual intermediary rather than a static centerpiece.
Terms related to the creation of sculpture.
Concept scheme for sculpture creation, tools, materials, and practice specific digital 3D terms.
Creating skeletal controls and constraints to deform and animate a model.
An unexpected finding about pigment behavior, mixture, or interaction that occurs during the painting of a specific work and subsequently enters the artist's repertoire. Distinguished from planned technique by its accidental or exploratory origin.
Source: 20260309. Example: discovering during the St. Mark's facade that turquoise mixed with Indian red produces a luminous gray particularly suited to sunlit stonework.
Fabriano Artistico Grana Fina cold press
A cold-press watercolor paper in sheets.
The quality in a painting that conveys the distinctive atmosphere, character, and identity of a specific location beyond mere topographic accuracy.
Distinguishes works that evoke the experiential quality of a place from those that merely depict its physical features.
Applies when a painting conveys the experiential and emotional qualities of a specific locale rather than just its appearance.
A compositional device in which a human or anthropomorphic form is oriented upside down relative to the expected gravitational axis, disrupting conventional spatial reading.
Used in sculpture and painting to challenge gravitational assumptions, suggest weightlessness, or emphasize that structural forces other than gravity govern the composition.
Collect paint on a brush, then rub the side of the brush across the paper so paint accumulates only on the peaks of the paper's uneven surface.
Mathematical operations that combine layer pixels to achieve compositing effects.
Drying, Flattening and Surface Protection (RS)
Minimal flattening on 300 lb paper; patient observation during drying to identify final adjustments.
Silence in this step is productive: it protects the freshness you built earlier.
Use the slow dry to judge whether the focal path still reads from across the room.
A preliminary design or visualization of a sculpture, typically rendered digitally or as a physical maquette, intended to communicate the concept before full-scale fabrication.
Use for works presented as proposals or preliminary visualizations rather than finished sculptures.
Colors in the blue, green, and violet range that appear to recede visually and evoke coolness.
The condition where all forces in a tensegrity structure balance so that it is stable and motionless under given loads.
A reference to the representation of things found in nature.
A compositional strategy in which the internal support structure of a sculpture is left visible and treated as an integral part of the finished work rather than concealed.
Distinguishes works where the armature carries aesthetic or symbolic meaning from those where it is merely hidden infrastructure.
A gum-arabic based watercolor binding medium.
gum arabic powder, distilled water, glycerine (humectant), essential oil of clove, essential oild of rosemary
1. Dissolve the gum Arabic powder: Dissolve two-part gum Arabic powder in four parts warm distilled water. Pour slowly and stir continuously for 10-15 minutes. 2. Add Humectant: Add one part of honey or glycerine (humectant) into the binder mixture at this stage. 3. Natural preservative: Add a couple of drops of essential oil (clove/rosemary) to the binder solution. 4. Let the solution stand for 24-48hrs to allow complete hydration of the gum arabic particles before use.
Materials, Light Logic and Rendering Setup
Select materials, control reflectance, choose HDRI environments, and configure lighting to reveal tension and form.
Materials and light are not afterthoughts. Reflectance and HDRI selection can either collapse subtle tension lines or make them sing. Treat this step as a sculptural decision made with photons.
Preparation for display, print, archival, or distribution, including file formats and color management.
The use of value, color temperature, and edge softness to distinguish spatial planes and create the illusion of atmosphere between forms at different depths.
Emphasizes the perceptual separation between spatial layers rather than the overall depth illusion.
Emphasizes the perceptual separation between planes rather than the overall illusion of depth.
Constrains a layer's visibility to the shape of another layer below.
A pictorial condition in which the composition alternates between shallow, surface-oriented flatness and convincing spatial recession, creating a pulsing sense of depth.
Distinct from simple spatial recession; describes an active back-and-forth between flatness and depth within a single work.
A compositional strategy in which the central meaning or subject of a work becomes apparent only after sustained engagement rather than immediate viewing.
Distinct from ambiguity; the meaning is recoverable through attention rather than permanently withheld.
The process includes hydrating paint cakes, creating mixes and dilutions. The process can include creating new watercolor paint from raw pigment and watercolor binder solution. This involves mulling the paints and binder together. The mixture is then allowed to dry forming a 'cake'.
A compositional approach in which the organization of the painting is governed primarily by the behavior of light, reflection, or color perception rather than by descriptive spatial perspective.
Adopted from ChatGPT source. Provides useful parent for OpticalAbstraction, OpticalReflectionField, and ReflectiveSymmetry.
An aspect of practice where growth is possible; a challenge or limitation that reappears across works.
Framed constructively as opportunity rather than deficit.
A compositional strategy in which surrounding areas are given greater density or depth of value to direct the viewer's eye toward a lighter or less-modeled focal area.
Distinct from general value structure in that it describes the deliberate manipulation of surrounding values to create a focal point.
A panoramic background image mapped onto the interior of a virtual cube or sphere to simulate a surrounding environment in 3D rendering and real-time viewers.
Use for the environmental backdrop technique in 3D rendering, distinct from HDRI lighting maps.
Assignment of per-vertex influence values that determine how bones deform a mesh.
Willingness to use bold, saturated colors decisively rather than defaulting to safe, muted choices.
The watercolor technique of allowing the unpainted white surface of the paper to serve as the primary source of luminosity and light within the composition.
Distinct from reserved whites as a technique; emphasizes the conceptual role of the paper surface as an active light-generating element rather than mere absence of paint.
Rough gesso brushstrokes applied before painting to add textural interest beyond standard watercolor paper. Watercolor gesso or absorbent ground works best; must be fully dry before painting. Sedimentary colors settle into the crevasses, enhancing the texture.
A lighting condition in which the light source is positioned behind the subject, producing silhouettes, rim-lighting, and value compression where forms are defined by edge glow rather than interior modulation.
Applies to both photographic and painted depictions where the primary light source is behind the subject relative to the viewer.
High-resolution, pigment-based inkjet print on archival media for fine art reproduction.
The perceived heaviness or importance of an element within a composition, determined by size, color, value, position, and density.
The deliberate reduction of observed detail in selected areas of a composition to maintain painterly quality and direct viewer attention, while retaining enough information for optical persuasiveness.
Describes the strategic choice to abstract or reduce detail in parts of a work rather than rendering uniformly, balancing realism with expressive mark-making.
Process philosophies, organizational methods, and computational paradigms guiding production.
When a foreground object's edge matches the tonal value of its background, the edge becomes indiscernible even though the brain still perceives it. Used deliberately to suggest movement or depth. A found edge is the reverse effect.
A warm color palette dominated by ochres, terracottas, salmon pinks, and dusty earth tones characteristic of Mediterranean architecture and landscape.
Applies to paintings that employ a warm earth-tone palette evoking Mediterranean light and materials.
Depictions of inanimate objects, typically arranged on a tabletop.
Simulation of indirect light transport via interreflections and color bleeding.
A specific viewing angle from which a three-dimensional work's compositional logic, spatial relationships, or thematic content becomes most legible.
Applies to sculpture and installation where meaning resolves differently depending on the viewer's position, analogous to how contrapposto reveals itself through circumambulation.
The generative process by which a tensegrity form emerges or evolves. The term is borrowed from biology and used in architecture and sculpture to frame tensegrity as something that 'grows' rather than something merely assembled.
Robots that use tensegrity frameworks for mobility, flexibility, and shock absorption.
Advanced Watercolor Techniques (article)
Once you have mastered the basic skills of color mixing, applying washes, softening edges, dropping in color etc. there are a number of more advanced watercolor techniques you can incorporate into your work.
Small, thumbnail-sized paint containers that slot into portable trays, most often used for painting in sketchbooks and outdoors.
Painting outdoors; from the French "en plein air."
A compositional strategy in which a recognizable structural system is presented with elements visibly missing or unresolved, so that the absence itself becomes expressive content.
Differs from non finito in that the incompleteness is structural and systematic rather than a matter of surface finish; the viewer recognizes what the complete system would be.
A commonly used watercolor brush with hairs tapering to a fine point. Highly versatile: suitable for washes, fine details, and broad strokes.
A structural compression element in a tensegrity or similar system that is represented by or takes the form of a human figure.
Used when human figures serve as the compression members within a tensegrity sculpture.
Binary form of glTF optimized for compact delivery of PBR-ready 3D assets on the web.
The depiction of water surfaces and their reflective properties.
A challenging subject requiring understanding of both transparency and reflection, often testing an artist's full technical range.
Rebuilding dense or sculpted meshes into cleaner, animation-friendly topology.
A curated collage of references establishing aesthetic, palette, material, and lighting cues.
A compositional structure organized along a dominant central axis that directs the viewer's eye into or through the pictorial space.
Distinct from symmetrical balance; the axis provides directional thrust rather than mirror equivalence.