Are you referring to an imprimatura?

Grisaille is French.

If I ordered two shots of espresso with milk froth in a small glass my barista would say do you mean a cortado?

It is easier to say grisaille, plein air, imprimatura, croquis… than have to explain it with multiple words every time. Why should we have to explain “I drew from the live, nude model” every time instead of just saying “croquis”?

What about all the paint colors with french, german, italian names? “I painted with a deep warm rose color”, instead of just writing “”alizarin crimson”.

What about painting mediums that are in french or italien? Instead of saying “dammar” then “a light yellow glossy resin”. Not as accurate, and could apply to other mediums.

Perhaps we should get rid of the Wet Canvas forums that use french words – the Plein Air forum, the Cafe Guerbois forum…

If I say I paint with brown paint, there are all sorts of guesses you have to make. Did I use brown and add white, to make lighter shades? Or did I use only brown, wiping away areas to get to the white? If I just say imprimatura, then you know already. If you don’t know the word, you can easily read the short, concise definition here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imprimatura

And if you aren’t curious, then move on. But in my opinion there is no reason why everyone else should only use the most generic words. This is a painting forum. Basic painting terms are to be expected.

The higher up you go the more this is noticeable. Gotta learn the lingo boy if you wanna mix with the big boys.

I’m working on it but I don’t think anyone that I know would understand me if I used them. This is strictly artist lingo and most of the artists that I know do not have a degree or read forums like I do. I’ll try it out on some of them and see what kind of reaction I get.

Hahaha…..Now, if you really want to impress your artist friends, and put on airs with unnecessary Italian lingo, give some of these words a try:

Verdaccio
Chiaroscuro
Imprimatura
Sfumato
Pentimento
Sgraffito

Being a bit of a redneck artist, I’m actually a bit shocked that I find myself actually knowing what most of these high-falootin’ words mean!:lol:

If my wife here’s me talking like that she’ll divorce me! She’s a bit of a redneck as well.

Hahaha…..Being married to a bluegrass musician/painter will do that to you.:lol:

Are we forgetting “Bistre” ? one of my favorite methods of under painting.