impasto

Definition

The use of a thick-bodied paint to create peaks and crests that physically extend from the surface of a painting.

Etymology

Borrowed from Italian impasto.

Example Sentences

• "He was thinking, ʽGot to get a subject where a man can weight the impasto in light. Paint thin against light. Got to remember that.ʼ"
• "[…]all got scumbled together, eventually, by the knives of the seasons, to an impasto, feet thick, of unbelievable black topsoil in which anything could grow, not the least being bananas."
• "These dully schematic yet sentimental misfortunes surround Van Gogh's “Sower”. He ploughs on, figure accentuated in deep impasto, across a field cast in blue shadow, chrome yellow corn merging with the sun."