Textures in Watercolour

This blog is all about creating textures in watercolour.  You can of course create great texture with just paint and water, using granulating paints and varying the amount of water you add.  However, here are seven easy techniques which will add varying mark-making effects to your artwork.

Salt

Ordinary table salt as well as coarser sea salt will create various marks.  Apply a juicy wash in the area you want your texture, sprinkle the salt sparingly onto it, leave it without disturbance and when dry ,brush off the granules.  The salt attracts the water and pigment from around each grain, and this creates a spot where each grain was which will be darker than the surrounding area.  Table salt gives you a smaller spottier look whilst the coarser sea salt gives you larger spots.

Salt water

Salt dissolved in water gives exciting results.  Dissolve a small amount of salt in water and then apply it as a wash to your paper.  Drop in small amounts of colour and watch the small explosions!

Cling film or tissue paper

Start by painting a wash over an area of your paper.  You can either plan to have a second, darker wash or a different colour over the top of this wash or you can just a apply a single wash with various colours.  Whilst it is still very wet, place a piece of cling film or tissue paper over the top, arranging it as you want the crumples to look.  Darker shades will now appear where the cling film or tissue touches the paper.  If you have painted two washes, one on top of the other, be careful about arranging the cling film or tissue so that the bottom wash is not eliminated.  Leave it to dry.  Tissue paper produces a less dramatic effect than the cling film, but it is of course a ‘greener’ option.

Wax

The wax resist technique is well known and an extremely useful technique and helps you preserve the white of the paper.  The idea is that you put down some wax on your paper using a white candle or crayon.  The wax resists the watercolour, leaving the paper exposed.  The downside of using wax is that you cannot remove the wax in order to paint over the area at a later stage.  If you want the option to be able to paint over the area at a later stage, try using masking fluid, which can be removed when dry.  You can also use coloured wax crayons or oil pastels, in which case the colour of the crayons or oil pastels will show through.

Splattering

An old toothbrush makes a perfect splatter tool.  Simply dip the bristles in your liquid paint and then run your thumb along the bristles and splatter your paper.  A palette knife also works well.  Load the dilute paint on the tip of the knife, turn it over to face the paper and then using a finger, flick the paint onto the paper.  Should the blobs be too big or in the wrong place, quickly blot them off whilst they are still wet.

Alcohol

Start with a fairly concentrated wet wash and then drop small amounts of alcohol onto the wash.  Rubbing alcohol or Surgical Spirit 90% works well (but don’t use drinking alcohol – it’s not strong enough!)  The alcohol can be applied with a dropper, pipette or the tip of a pen.  Circles will be formed where the alcohol touches the paper, leaving a pale circle with a darker spot in the centre.

As always have fun experimenting!

Happy painting.