What Does That Mean?
I imagine some of the terms used around here might not be familiar to everyone—and that’s totally okay. This page is here to help! If you come across something I haven’t explained, feel free to reach out. If you’re wondering what a word means, chances are someone else is too. Let’s de-mystify the artsy lingo together 😊
Categories & Terms
ATC Card
Short for Artist Trading Card. These are small works of art, usually 2.5″ x 3.5″—about the size of a wallet photo or a playing card. Artists often trade them with one another, but I like to hand mine out to strangers to (hopefully) brighten someone’s day.
Did you end up here because you received one? I hope it brought a little color into your world.
Available
If something is marked as “Available,” it means the artwork is looking for a new home. I don’t really advertise my art for sale—it’s more that once a piece is done, I have no idea what to do with it. So if a piece speaks to you, feel free to reach out. I’d be thrilled to see it go somewhere it’ll be appreciated instead of, well… sitting quietly in a pile like a forgotten potato.
Black Light Reactive
These pieces are painted using black light reactive paint and glow or change in appearance under UV light. I’m doing my best to include example images that show how they look under black light, but some might still be waiting for their glam shots.
Canvas Board
A canvas board is canvas material glued to a flat, rigid board—usually cardboard or MDF. They’re great for framing and don’t have the bulk of stretched canvas. Think: art, but flat and ready to be tucked neatly into your space.
Mounted Canvas
Also called stretched canvas, this is canvas that’s pulled tight and stapled over a wooden frame. It’s the classic three-dimensional painting surface you see in galleries… and also leaning against my walls until I figure out what to do with them.
Paper Media
“Paper” sounds simple, but it covers a lot of territory. This label includes watercolor paper, mixed media paper, sketch paper, Yupo (a synthetic, slick paper), card stock, printer paper—basically anything flat and papery enough to hold paint, ink, or whatever medium I happened to be exploring that day. If you see “Paper Media,” know it could be anything from archival to “I stole this from my printer tray.”
Rock
Exactly what it sounds like. A literal rock. It could’ve been from the backyard, the trail, a parking lot—wherever I found a good shape and decided it deserved to wear some paint. Durable. Honest. Surprisingly satisfying to paint.
Wood
This category includes pine boards and other bits of wood I’ve painted on. Usually it’s pine, because it’s accessible and behaves nicely under paint. Regardless of type, if it’s wood and it has art on it, it lives here.
Misc
The “junk drawer” of categories. If a piece doesn’t quite fit the usual suspects—maybe it’s on acetate, glass, or something I MacGyvered together in a moment of wild inspiration—it lands here. It’s the catch-all for creative chaos.