brushstrokes

Brushstrokes are the marks left on a surface when pigment is applied with a brush. The character of a painting can be read in its brushwork—the direction, pressure, speed, and the amount of paint on the brush—revealing the artist's approach to form, texture, and light.

Common brushstroke types include visible, expressive strokes that reveal the painter's hand, smooth blended strokes used for modeling, and texture-building strokes such as dry brushing, loaded brush, and impasto. Techniques like scumbling produce a broken, hazy layer; glazing applies translucent color over dried paint; stippling and crosshatching create pointillist or linear texture.

The brush used, its shape (round, flat, filbert), and the medium (oil, acrylic, watercolor) influence stroke quality. Wet-on-wet blending yields soft transitions, while dry-on-dry allows crisp edges. Pressure, angle, and speed alter line width and opacity, enabling contour, volume, and rhythm.

Historically, brushwork has signaled stylistic shifts. The loose, shimmering strokes of Impressionism contrast with the smooth finish of academic painting. In Abstract Expressionism, vigorous, gestural marks became a primary expressive medium. In East Asian traditions, brushwork encompasses calligraphic lines and energy known as qi or ch'i.

In contemporary practice, brushstrokes may be preserved as visible evidence of the painter's process or controlled to achieve subtle surfaces. Digital painting can imitate traditional brushwork, blending or layering strokes to simulate texture and depth.