oil painting » Painting techniques » Wash

Wash

A wash is a painting technique in which a paint brush that is very wet with in debt and holds a small paint load is applied to a wet or dry support such as paper or primed or raw canvas. The result is a even and uniform area that ideally lacks the appearance of brush strokes and is semi-transparent. The drybrush technique can be measured the opposite of a wash.

A wash is accomplished by using a large quantity of solvent with little paint. Paint consists of a color and binder which allows the pigment to adhere to its support. Solvents dilute the folder, thus diluting the binding strength of the paint. Washes can be breakable and delicate paint films because of this. However, when gum arabic watercolor washes are applied to a highly leaky surface, such as paper, the effects are long lasting. This is the cause why watercolor is the medium most often utilizing washes.

Painting:

A wash is a light covering of watercolor on a painting. When painting three-dimensional models, they can be used to add shading.

Geography:

A wash is a small river or stream. Typically (at least in rural parts of the central United States, and the especially the deserts of the Southwest) the term wash is used to reference a stream that only carries water when there is rain, and usually dries quickly. The term does not refer to a section of land that gets wet during heavy rains, which is a flood plain.

Equality:

There is a common American phrase of, 'it's a wash'. This means the process of coming to be on equal footing with another party. If person A gives person B one dollar at the same time that person B gives person A a dollar, 'it's a wash'.

Brewing:

A synonym for mash, a mixture of sugar and/or other carbohydrates (such as grains, corn, potatoes, etc), water, and yeast. The resulting mixture is fermented and then usually distilled to make vodka, whiskey, or rum.