Textured Acrylics

Acrylic paint is a fairly young medium among art materials and has gained great popularity due to its unique qualities. Acrylics can be painted using several techniques you would use with oil, such as impasto, but it dries much faster. With acrylics, you can also paint translucent glazes as you can do with watercolor paint. Besides paint, there is a large selection of acrylic texture pastes that can be used to create high-volume textured paintings.

Using acrylic paint, you can create an infinite number of textural effects, both abstract and figurative. Because they are full-bodied, you can achieve the thickness you need to create abstract textures that stand off the canvas.

What is my technique for adding unbelievable, thick texture to the acrylic painting? There’s only one secret—the texture comes first. I mix together equal amounts of acrylic heavy gel and acrylic modeling paste. Then, following the inspirational ideas, I sculpt with palette knife abstract painting. I like to paint quickly, acrylics is the best materials for that. In the mean time, working fast is not a problem, because the texture allows me to correct any errors easily in the last step. I do not find usually that a lot of detail is necessary, so I let the textures do the work.