paint a picture
to describe a situation, so that people can get a general idea of what it is like

[TahlilGaran] Dictionary of Contemporary English ▲

describe to talk or write about a person, place, event etc, in order to show what they are like:
Could you try and describe the man you saw?
In her book, she describes her journey across the Sahara.
Police described the attack as particularly violent.
tell somebody about somebody/something to describe someone or something to someone. This phrase is more commonly used than describe in everyday spoken English:
So, tell me about your holiday!
My friends have told me all about you!
depict formal to describe someone or something in a piece of writing:
His stories depict life in Trinidad as seen through the eyes of a young boy.
In this new biography she is depicted as a lonely and unhappy woman.
portray/represent formal to describe someone or something in a particular way:
College teachers are often represented on television shows as slightly eccentric.
The magazine has been criticized for the way it portrays women.
The treatment has been portrayed as a painless way of curing cancer, which is simply not true.
Police have represented her as a willing participant in the crimes.
characterize somebody/something as something formal to describe someone or something by emphasizing one particular quality or feature about them:
He characterized himself as ‘an average American’.
The successful schools were characterized as innovative and creative.
paint somebody/something as something to describe someone or something, especially in a way that makes people believe something that is not true:
Not all young people are as bad as they’re painted in the press.
We won, yet the media is painting it as a victory for our opponents.
The woman was painted as having only a slight grasp of reality.
paint a picture to describe a situation, so that people can get a general idea of what it is like:
Can you paint a picture of life in Japan for us?
My uncle’s letters generally painted a rosy picture of how things were.
The report painted a bleak picture of the management’s failures.

[TahlilGaran] English Thesaurus ▲

paint a picture
paint a picture (of (something))
to describe a situation in a particular way.
The report paints a picture of a neighborhood in decline.

Usage notes: often used with an adjective that describes the type of situation:
Doctors have begun to paint a grim picture of his condition.

I don't want to paint too rosy a picture.

As the 2nd usage ex. shows, the obj is optional--SL, 1/03

[TahlilGaran] English Idioms Dictionary ▲