scumble

American  

[skuhm-buhl] / ˈskʌm bəl /

verb (used with object)

scumbled, scumbling

1. to soften (the color or tone of a painted area) by overlaying parts with opaque or semiopaque color applied thinly and lightly with an almost dry brush.

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noun

1. the act or technique of scumbling.

2. the effect produced by this technique.

scumble British  

/ ˈskʌmbəl /

verb

1. (in painting and drawing) to soften or blend (an outline or colour) with an upper coat of opaque colour, applied very thinly

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noun

1. the upper layer of colour applied in this way

2. the technique or effects of scumbling

Etymology

Origin of scumble

1790–1800; perhaps equivalent to scum (v.) + -le, with intrusive b

Example Sentences

Up close, you can see how Rembrandt’s application of wet paint over dry creates a texture, or scumble, uncannily close to human skin, with its pores and subcutaneous blood vessels.

From Washington Post

In painting The Birth of the World, 1925, he started with the background, a scumble of brush strokes and hesitations.

From Time Magazine Archive

When doing a portrait, he contrived a pose that suited his view; if hands diverted attention from face, he would magisterially scumble them over, obliterating the knuckles without any sense of embarrassment.

From Time Magazine Archive

Never glaze nor scumble because you can't get the colors without.

From The Painter in Oil A complete treatise on the principles and technique necessary to the painting of pictures in oil colors by Parkhurst, Daniel Burleigh

Don't glaze and scumble, but work as directly as you can.

From The Painter in Oil A complete treatise on the principles and technique necessary to the painting of pictures in oil colors by Parkhurst, Daniel Burleigh