Painted texture is important to my work. I like to run my fingers over the surface and feel the bumps and indents. As the sun lights them up, these textures are dynamic. To me, this texture is as important to my acrylic painting as the images. Without texture, it feels like something is missing.

Veins and Arteries

Painted texture is something that came naturally to me. Somehow it is the core of the painting. It isn’t structural in that I don’t use texture to build the image. It is there over and beneath the image. Almost like the life blood of the work. Like veins and arteries, they link sections of the painting together, bringing life and movement.

The section of painting above, with the green background, was shaping up to be a grassland. It didn’t come to fruition. Along with the texture and the colours, I loved many things about it. For whatever reason, it didn’t really sing as a painting. I ended up putting a layer of deep ‘midnight’ blue over the whole canvas.

Painting over the grassland scene, I worked tentatively. With this deep blue, I kept the layer thin. I noticed some muted colour and underlying texture was visible. These rose above the new layer. I wanted to bring them out more. So, I used a damp cloth to wipe the blue paint away from the areas I loved. If you plan to do this, it’s necessary to work while the paint is still wet. I rubbed over the bumps and indents. As I worked, I saw the colours reviving. To me, it feels like a better painting.

Under Wraps

After I took these photographs, I added more layers to the over-painted grassland. Right now, I’m not posting photographs of this new version. It will be part of an exhibition, later in the year.

In the meantime, I wanted to show you the stages of the over-painting. I discovered the first painting was not lost. It was incorporated into the background of something new.

Click on the below images to see them screen sized.

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