Painting Vocabulary and Related Phrases in Spanish

Painting Vocabulary and Related Phrases in Spanish
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Learning a language by engaging in a favorite activity can make the learning process easier and, of course, more fun. If you like painting, you can use that activity to learn Spanish.

Many people take painting holidays or attend art workshops in Spain or in other Spanish-speaking countries, where they can practice painting or learn to paint and learn to speak Spanish at the same time. However, it is not necessary to go to Spain for this. You can combine painting and learning Spanish activities on your own.

It will be a good idea to read up on “la historia del arte español” (the Spanish art history). Make a point of visiting online or actual “galerías de arte” (art galleries) featuring Spanish art. Spain has a rich tradition in art, influenced by the Moors, the Italians and the French, and propagated by artists like Pablo Picasso, Juan Gris, Joan Miró, Salvador Dali, El Greco, Francisco de Zurbarán, Diego Velázquez and Francisco Goya.

What You Will Need to Get Started

  • Materiales del arte (art materials)
  • Libros del arte (art books; for instruction and inspiration)
  • Lista española del vocabulario del arte (spanish art vocabulary list)

List of Materiales del Arte

The art materials include -

  • Colores (Colors)
  • Las acuarelas (watercolors)
  • Los colores del aceite (oil colors)
  • El acrílico colora/ colores de acrílico (acrylic colors)
  • Los colores pastel (pastel colors)
  • Los creyones (crayons)
  • Los rotuladores (marker pens)
  • Las plumas (pens)
  • Los lápices (pencils)

To work on, you can use any of the following -

  • Una lona (a canvas)
  • Un papel (a paper)
  • Una cartulina (a cardboard)
  • Un panel duro (a hardboard)

You will also need -

  • Un tablero de dibujo (a drawing board)
  • Un caballete (an easel)
  • Las chinchetas (drawing pins/tacks)

For diluting and mixing colors, you will need -

  • El aceite de linaza (linseed oil)
  • La trementina (turpentine)
  • El agua (water)

You can paint with -

  • Los cepillos de pintura (painting brushes)
  • Los cuchillos de la pintura (painting knives)

Brushes can be of several types -

  • Los cepillos planos (flat brushes)
  • Los cepillos del redondo (round brushes)
  • Los cepillos del sable-pelo (sable-hair brushes)
  • los cepillos del cerdo-pelo (hog-hair brushes)

Colors are mixed on “una paleta” (a palette) and wiped clean with “algunos trapos” (some rags).

Types of Art

Some of the types of art you could try are -

  • Retrato (Portraiture)
  • Vida pintura (life painting)
  • Pintura de la aún-vida (still life painting)
  • Pintura de paisaje (landscape painting)
  • Naturaleza pintura (nature painting)
  • Arte abstracto (abstract art)
  • Arte moderno modern art)
  • Arte conceptual(conceptual art)

A person who makes art is “un artista” (an artist) or “un pintor” (a painter). The artist may execute “un pintura” (a painting) or “una obra de arte” (a work of art) in “un estudio del arte” (an art studio). Some artists like to “un boceto” (a sketch) at the beginning.

  • Yo soy un artista (I am an artist)
  • Soy un artista profesional que quiera aprender español (I am a professional artist who wants to learn Spanish)
  • Soy un arte-amante, y tengo gusto de pintar (I am an art-lover, and I like to paint)
  • Soy un estudiante de arte, y estoy aprendiendo a pintar (I am an art student, and I am learning to paint)
  • Picasso es uno de mis artistas favoritos. (Picasso is one of my favorite artists)

You can download a vocabulary list of the terms used in this article