A splotch is an irregular blob or spot of something, usually a liquid or color, that landed or spread unevenly. When you're painting and a big drip falls on your paper, creating a messy, uneven mark, that's a splotch. When you spill juice on your shirt and it leaves an irregular stain, you've got a splotch.

Unlike a dot, which is round and neat, or a streak, which is long and narrow, a splotch has no particular shape. It's blotchy and uneven, maybe with fuzzy edges. You might notice splotches of mud on the kitchen floor after a rainy day, or splotches of different colors on an artist's mixing palette. A dalmatian has splotches of black on its white coat.

The word has a slightly messy feeling to it. While some splotches are accidental (like spilled paint), others are intentional. An abstract painter might deliberately add colorful splotches to a canvas, and certain art techniques use controlled splotching to create interesting effects.

The verb form works too: if you splotch paint onto paper, you're applying it in irregular blobs rather than in careful strokes.