Which painting technique uses a dry brush that holds paint and creates scratchy strokes?

• A. Dry Brush
• B. Wash
• C. Scumbling
• D. Glazing

Answer: (A)

The important idea here is using a nearly dry brush to create rough, scratchy marks. When the brush is loaded with only a small amount of paint and most of it is wiped away, the bristles skim over the surface, depositing short, uneven strokes that reveal the texture of the canvas or paper. That gives the characteristic broken, grainy look you see in dry brush work, which is perfect for textures like rough wood, weathered surfaces, or expressive lines.

The other techniques produce different effects. A wash relies on diluted paint spread evenly over a large area to create smooth, translucent color. Scumbling also uses a relatively dry brush, but the goal is a soft, broken color over a dry layer to build a hazy texture rather than crisp, scratchy lines. Glazing involves transparent color layers laid over dry paint to alter color and depth, typically resulting in luminous, smooth shifts rather than scratchy texture.

So the method that uses a dry brush to leave scratchy, textured strokes is the dry brush technique.