I think that I mentioned in my last post that I’ve been experimenting with texture lately. When I work in oils, the paint itself can provide texture. Unlike most people, I use it straight out of the tube and it has a thick, rich, buttery feel and whether applied with a pallet knife or brush, texture lines and stoke are easy to accomplish. Because oils take soooo long to dry, I’ve continued to work with acrylics recently and have tried to make them act like oils. Mixing acrylics with different mediums not only makes your paint stretch but also changes the structure of the paint and give it a heavier consistency allowing it to retain brush (and knife) strokes.
In this most recent piece, I took it one step further. I applied a base layer of paint – with texture. I then painted the scene with a brush and pallet knife and finally went over all of it with a pallet knife that emphasized the texture and the strokes.