Painter with colour running short getting little done (4)
I believe the answer is:
rare
'little done' is the definition.
The answer and definition are different parts of speech. However, adjectives and past participle verbs occasionally define each other.
'painter with colour running short' is the wordplay.
'painter' becomes 'RA' (member of the Royal Academy of Arts).
'with' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'colour' becomes 'red' (red is a kind of colour).
'running short' means to remove the last letter.
'red' with its final letter taken off is 're'.
'ra'+'re'='RARE'
'getting' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for rare that I've seen before include "Very lightly cooked, meat say" , "little done?" , "Infrequent; remarkable" , "Rear up to be uncommon" , "Exceptionable" .)