Art Encyclopedia - Impasto Painting Technique

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Impasto Painting Technique
Impasto is a painting technique where the paint is laid very thick on the painting surface. The thickness of the paint will retain the brush strokes of the artists providing texture and expression to the painting. Although other paints such as acrylic paint can be used for the impasto technique, oil paint is the most suitable for impasto. Tempera and watercolour paint will require the addition of thickening media to make impasto painting possible.

An advantage of impasto is the particular way that impasto paint reflect light as well as the expressive quality it adds to a painting. An impasto painting also has a three dimensional sculptural quality to it. Contrast can be successfully created within a painting by laying areas of impasto paint next to flat and smooth blending techniques.