Master Artist Marvels: How Artists Paint Texture

February 05, 2025

By Chelsea Reed

It goes without saying that appreciating art is a heavily visual process. Bright colors can easily impact your mood, and bold contrasts catch your attention with a dramatic visual feast. But physical art can also impact your other senses, too. A certain image in the art might recall specific sounds in the viewer’s mind. And the textures of the paint can add physical depth to the essence of the painting, like dried peaks of thick paint conveying the choppy waves of an ocean. 

A skilled artist creates an image with depth perception. But a Master artist creates a painting with the appearance of texture. Have you ever looked at a painted bird and wanted to reach out and touch its soft fluffy feathers? That is the mastery of texture. Let’s look at some fascinating examples of how an artist creates the illusion of texture in a painting.

Methods of Painting Texture

Have you seen these examples of texture in museums and art galleries? Below are some common ways that Master artists convey texture:

Glaze - This traditional art technique has been used by masters since the days of Leonardo da Vinci. Oil paint is mixed with a glazing medium to create soft, glowing translucent colors. This special glaze is layered on top dry paint to create the rich shading we see in realism.

Drip Paint - Dripping paint onto the canvas is a simple way to create powerful feelings

with striking and complex textures. Artists typically do this with abstract paintings, but it can be done in almost any style. To do this, water based paint is thinned with enough water to create the drips. Once applied, the artist rolls the paint around the canvas to create the desired effect.

Palette Knife - A classic Impressionism technique, the palette knife naturally adds ridges and grooves to the piece by applying thick paint. The look results in the feeling of airy movement that emphasizes immediacy.

Collage - Paint does a wondrous job expressing ideas, but sometimes it needs a little extra help. That’s where collage comes in. This modern technique incorporates mixed media together with paint to tell a visual story in 3D. The mixed media could be snippets of a poem, a photograph, or even miniature sculpture. It’s up to the artist’s imagination!

Texture: A Feast for the Senses

Our sight obviously benefits from the sensations of the art world. But touch, sound and even smell can be influenced by a painting, too! Textures add a layer of richness to art that sight cannot do alone. It’s best to experience textures in person at an art gallery. It’s worth planning a visit to Seaside Art Gallery, one of the largest art galleries in the Southeast. Here’s how you can find the Gallery next time you are in the area.

Chelsea Reed is a copywriter who writes winning content, articles, blogs, and websites from her base in North Carolina. She might not be building sandcastles or swashbuckling with pirates these days, but the Outer Banks beaches continue to keep her young at heart.

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