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brushwork

brushwork

4 7.1
The way an artist moves a brush to put paint on a surface
  • noun
  • /ˈbrʌʃˌwɜrk/
translation icon : pincelada
  • Studying different artists' brushwork can reveal a lot about their individual techniques and inspirations.
  • expressive brushwork
  • color and brushwork

Well, it could be the reason you're not there yet is because you lack the skill in brushwork or shading or color theory or whatever else.

Examples

  • Van Gogh's expressive and emotional brushwork deeply influenced Monk, as did his use of colour.

  • The artist's unique brushwork gives her paintings a signature style that everyone recognizes.

  • We start to actually study the brushwork and learn how it was applied.

  • Carol, your brushwork is absolutely lovely.

  • Even then, a shade more brushwork may be indicated.

    Academic text (2003)
  • The guards marveled at the brilliance of his brushwork.

  • A fine piece of calligraphy is valued as highly as a fine painting, and what is most prized in a picture is that the brushwork should be as personal to the artist as his handwriting.

    Academic text (2013)
  • The loose brushwork Sloan often employed echoes Courbet's emphasis on the materiality of paint.

    Academic text (2011)
  • Close looking reveals not a strokeless, gleaming Pop surface devoid of traces of the artist's hand, but fastidious brushwork, swirling, heavily wrought layers of primary paint.

    Academic text (2005)
  • Critics praised his brushwork for its delicate detail and emotional depth in each piece.

Synonyms

painterliness
vsbrushwork
  • Specialized
8.4

Visible brush marks and thick paint that make a picture look made by hand

focuses on the specific technique of applying paint stroke by stroke

How Painterly

painterliness
  • Specialized
8.4
dry brush
  • Specialized
1 5.1
brushwork
4 7.1
superrealism
  • Specialized
8.2

Surface Forms

brushwork singular
brushworks plural

Morphology

brushwork = brush + work (transparent) = brush + work

The meaning is directly the 'work' done with a brush, so learners can derive it from 'brush' + 'work'.

Etymology

Brushwork comes from brush ('the tool you paint with') and work ('the way you do something'), so it literally means 'the work of a brush'. That's why brushwork describes an artist's special way of applying paint — the brush marks and strokes that give a painting its style.