Art Encyclopedia - Scumble

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Scumble
Scumble is a painting technique whereby opaque colours are dragged over an underpainting deliberately allowing parts of the underlayer to show through. Scumble is a painter's term for upper layer of paint used to modify the colour of the surface to which it is applied - but unlike glaze, the pigment is opaque and applied irregularly - dragged or scuffed in such a way that small areas of colour form underneath show through. Creates a particularly textured effect.