brushwork

noun

brush·​work ˈbrəsh-ˌwərk 

: work done with a brush (as in painting)

especially : the characteristic work of an artist using a brush

Examples of brushwork in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Combining forceful brushwork with careful, architectural construction, Guerrero produces a novel hybrid of geometric and expressive abstraction. —Benjamin Lima special Contributor, Dallas Morning News, 18 Mar. 2026

He was repeatedly exposed to the looser brushwork of Max Oppenheimer and Oskar Kokoschka; newly enthusiastic about Javanese shadow puppets; and charmed by a wacky friend, Erwin Osen, a mime, an artist, and a cabaret performer, who drew Schiele’s attention to the body language of the mentally ill. —Zachary Fine, New Yorker, 16 Mar. 2026

Ariel loves all artforms but her ability and confidence with watercolor and brushwork is far beyond her years. —Heide Janssen, Oc Register, 15 Mar. 2026

Untitled, 2008, shows a man not yet thirty with a palette of unruly brushwork, an abstract painting-within-a-painting (the work appeared on the January 2017 cover of Artforum). —James Meyer, Artforum, 1 Jan. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1755, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for brushwork

• artwork
• beadwork
• berserk
• breastwork
• brickwork
• casework
• classwork
• clockwork
• coursework
• ductwork
• earthwork
• falsework