Impasto

Impasto is an art technique that is used to create actual texture. An artist uses paint in thick and heavy maneuvers. In Robert Ryman's painting Untitled, he has painted thick white strokes on top of thick tan strokes. He then put smaller brush strokes of yellow, green, and lavender in certain spots to make the white paint look textured. These different colors were used to make the white seem like it was rough and standing higher than the rest of the paint. Yellow, green, and lavender stand as the “shadows” to the white paint. Also, the dark colored canvas that he painted on makes the white stand out more which increases the texture.