Color terms:

Hue: color
Brilliance: how light or dark a color appears, also called tonal value.
Relative value:the influence of light/shadow on a color.
Saturation: percentage of neutral gray to the color.
Value: translation of a color’s lightness/darkness as measured on a gray scale.

Color-related terms

Chromatic color: any color except white, gray or black.
Complementary colors: contrasting color directly opposite on the color wheel.
Intermediate colors: the 6 colors between the 3 primaries and 3 secondaries on a color wheel.
Local color: actual hue without influence of light or shadow.
Primary colors: yellow, red, blue
Secondary colors: orange, green, violet, colors made by combining 2 of the primaries
Tertiary colors: gray, brown, and olive green, combinations of 2 secondaries

Faux finish techniques:

Aging: dark brown glaze applied.
Boiserie: decorative wall panels.
Boulle marquetry: inlays of pewter, brass, ivory, ebony, and tortoiseshell.
Cloth distressing: softening/blending out glaze with cheesecloth or rags.
Coccio pesto: pebbled plaster finish applied to imitate seaside gottos.
Color washing: blended glaze softly brushed out to create a dappled appearance.
Combing: textured effect of corduroy, basket weave, or other thin lined pattern
Crackling: weathered or porcelain-crazed--adds aging, texture, nuances of contrasting color
Damask: continuous stenciled pattern, usually contrasted by sheen rather than tone.
Embellishing: additional hand-painted detail.
Embossing: dimensional plaster or painted design.
Encausto: adds texture and patina to paintings/walls with waxen paints .
Fading/feathering: softly blending out a color, mural, or finish
Faux bois: wood graining.
Faux leather: painted to imitate leather, especially Spanish red leather.
Faux molding: painted to imitate molding, using highlight, shadow and halftone.
Faux tile: painted to imitate hand-made or mosaic.
Fresco: painted to imitate Pompeian walls using paint on wet plaster or series of glazes.
Frottage: elegant glaze finish imitates soft suede.
Ghosting: painted damask applied with a random/varied fade.
Gilding: applied metallic leafing or metallic powder, especially gold
Grafitto: embossed designs created with plaster.
Grisaille: trompe l’oeil painted with shades of gray or camaieu/tone-on-tone.
Limestone/sandstone: painted to imitate constructed hewn blocks of neutral stone.
Linen: imitates the look of woven linen.
Marbling: paint with veined, breche/fragmented, cloudy, onyx/agate characteristics
Marmarino: plaster technique applied to imitate old-world style walls.
Metal patina: painted to imitate oxidized metal.
Mural: painting images or landscape on wall, ceiling, or applied canvas.
Ornamental/architectural detail: trompe l’oeil typically painted on boiserie, doors and furniture.
Pietre dure: marble and semiprecious stone marquetry.
Plaid: vertical and horizontal painted bands overlapping to create a plaid pattern.
Semiprecious stone: generally more brightly colored and distinctly patterned than marble.
Smoked edge: neutral gray glaze blended into corners/crevices to age finish
Stenciling: generally used for precise repeats, i.e. damask, borders, architectural detail.
Stippling: a freckling technique employed to soften/age a finish.
Strie: imitates the texture and pattern of raw silk.
Striping: vertical or horizontal repeated bands using color, texture, or sheen.
Tortoiseshell: painted to imitate the pattern/color of tortoiseshell, used in small spaces.
Trompe l’oeil: painted to create an illusion of dimension and depth.
Venetian plaster: elegant, smooth, polished plaster finish.
Watermark patina: flecked finish using water, turpentine, or denatured alcohol to open the glaze .
Weathered/’shabby chic’: paint finish sanded along edges/small random areas to reveal surface.
Wiping off: glaze applied to highly carved surface, then wiped so that glaze remains in crevices.

Paint and pigment terms

Grade: paint quality.
Permanency: lightfastness, ability of color to resist light fade.
Opaque: transmits little to no light.
Transparent: transmits light easily.

Materials

Acrylic/latex: water based paint with a plastic/vinyl polymer binder.
Alkyd: ’oil-based’ paint with an artificial resin binder.
Casein: milk based paint .
Cheesecloth: cotton gauze used in faux techniques.
Color wheel: chart showing range and relationship of pigments.
Crackle medium: for creating porcelain, crazed, or weathered effects .
Distemper: casein or gelatin (glue-size) based paint.
Encaustic: pigmented wax.
Glaze: a translucent liquid to which pigment has been added.
Marmarino: a somewhat smooth, lime-based venetian plaster.
Primer: coating that prepares surface for painting adding uniformity and tooth.
Refined white beeswax: produces a lustrous, elegant finish that does not yellow.
Rust inhibitor: paint additive that resists corrosion on metal surfaces.
Scaffold: raised platform used for working in spaces high up.
Sheen: flat/matte, egghshell, satin, semi-gloss, gloss, high-gloss .
Shellac: alcohol based sealer, comes in clear, amber, and white-pigmented .
Sizing: glue used in metallic leaf/powder application.
Stencil: plastic/vinyl sheet with cutout designs for a painted or embossed design repetition.
Stucco veneziano: a general term for venetian plaster .
Terra: a slightly granular venetian plaster.
Turpentine/mineral spirits: solvent for oil/alkyd based paints.
Universal tint: pigment in a liquid suspension, used to color water/oil based paint or glaze.
Varnish: clear, top coat sealer.