Made-Up Words

The Metropolitan Museum in New York City has mounted a retrospective of the works of J.W.M. Turner, the 19th century British painter. In the current New Yorker, Peter Schjeldahl accuses Turner of "smooshing" paint on canvas. I don't object to made-up words, especially if they are sound effects or exclamations. I especially like blogger Camille Offenbach's "Geh!" In the case of the New Yorker's bit, however, I dislike "smoosh" because I have never seen any evidence of smooshing in Turner's works at the Tate in London or the Museum of Modern Art in New York or elsewhere, in books. I like Turner; Peter Schjeldahl does not. Why can't critics just make "I" statements instead of cosmic pronouncements?