Impasto

 

Robert Ryman, Stage 2002
Contemporary Art (Larry Qualls Archive)

Texture is the word we use to describe the work of art’s ability to call forth certain tactile sensation and feeling. Another actual texture that we often encounter in art is paint applied in a thick heavy manner. Each brushstroke seems to have a body of its own. This texture effect is called Impasto. In Stage drawing, thickly impastoed strokes of white are piled deeply above a series of more thinly painted brown marks.