painterly Hear it!

painterly Definition

paint·erly (pāntər lē)

adjective

  1. Now Rare of or characteristic of a painter
  2. characterized by those qualities related to a painter's techniques in applying colors in masses, esp. with a thick, rough surface texture, as distinguished from linear qualities that emphasize outline and contour

painterly Related Forms
paint·er·li·ness noun
painterly Usage Examples

Modifies a noun

  • abstraction: But spontaneous mark making is Bowen's strength and suggests a serious study of post-war painterly abstraction.
  • composition: His images locate moments of painterly composition or sculptural form in sites of absent labor.
  • style: David used Terragen renders for the basis of the final images, which are considerably reworked in a more painterly style.
  • quality: Painting the edges with looser strokes will add to the painterly qualities.
  • technique: The realism conveyed through these paintings does not refer simply to Meyer's painterly technique.
  • effect: He teaches the animator how to add painterly effects to their work, whether for video, TV, or the Web.

Modifying Another Word

  • very: I like the contradiction between the craft of working with metal, and the very painterly image which I aim to achieve on paper.
  • almost: His surfaces might be worked to display an almost painterly plane that suggests refracted light, with a remarkable range of color.