3 Ways to Pump Up Your Paintings using Texture in watercolor
Jazz up your watercolor shapes with texture.
Sea Turtle
There are fast and slow ways to achieve texture. Before I learned to paint faster, I painted around many little delicate white shapes. This can take up a fantastic amount of your time, which can be better spent elsewhere. Then I was reintroduced to Frisket. It’s a rubber cement-type masking fluid you paint over the whites on your paper to save them from being painted. Then you let the paint and paper dry from one hour and up to overnight. Drying time is determined how humid or dry your weather is. Using a rubber cement remover, “rub off” the dried frisket, revealing your texture underneath. This technique will speed up your results and can save hours.
Most of the texture in this painting was achieved with masking. Texture is also readily available with some characteristics of the watercolor pigment. Examples of characteristics include granulation or blooms. Some paints contain larger particles that move and flow as the water dries on the paper. As the paints dry, the larger particles settle and dry in crevices in the paper. This is granulation. Some pigments bloom or separate more than others. A bloom is achieved when the pigment is pushed out of the way of the wave of water.
Begin using frisket to “mask out” your whites. Textures using this method are almost unlimited. You can use many little dots or large long, irregular shapes. Even block out vast areas for large smooth “shine shapes” like glass.
Use paints that granulate. By experimenting, you can find the paints that suit you. For example, Daniel Smith’s brand Lunar Blue is one of the most granulating pigments I’ve used.
Plan textures using paper that will boost your results. Use hot press paper for smooth textures such as skin, glass, or shiny objects. For the best paint texture to obtain “blooms,” use cold press paper. For close-up landscapes such as bark, use rough paper. Depending on your subject matter, these papers will assist your outcome.
Texture can be a subconscious choice, but by bringing it to the forefront of your design strategy, you have a weapon in your arsenal to improve your paintings strategically and gain momentum.
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In what ways do you use texture in your work? Has it improved your outcome?
“They who dwell in the ends of the earth stand in awe of Your signs; You make the dawn and the sunset shout for joy.” Psalm 65:8