| Creating TextureThis is the best part of creating | | | | started in that bowl. It also gives it an antique |
| a painting for me. I've learned to see beyond the | | | | feeling, a feeling I wanted to give this rustic still |
| preliminary washes that start to give shape to a | | | | life.More subtly, shadows, like those under the |
| painting and look forward to what can be done | | | | onion and of the garlic on the onion, help to |
| with texturing. Sometimes those first washes that | | | | establish form. Highlights will do the same thing as |
| establish the composition can look bland and | | | | also seen on the onion and bowl. I often find that |
| uninteresting. For a beginning watercolorist, those | | | | highlights, whether I've saved the white with |
| first stages can be the most discouraging. It | | | | masking or I've scrubbed off or am using a bit of |
| doesn't look like I want it, you say. That's where | | | | titanium white really are the icing on the cake. So |
| texturing comes in to bring those shapes to life.I | | | | if something in your painting looks a bit lifeless, |
| use several tried and true techniques to achieve | | | | give it a life of its own, with some |
| the look I want. My tools are a few very worn | | | | texturing.Happy Painting!Chris Dinesen Rogers is a |
| brushes, some with just a few bristles. For a | | | | Minnesota artist, specializing in watercolor |
| worn look, I use scumbling quite often. This | | | | landscapes of the North Country. Through her |
| technique involves using a dry to damp brush, | | | | work, she strives to capture the unique beauty |
| with fairly concentrated color is rub color onto a | | | | and wonder of the Upper Midwest. Her art |
| shape. Look at the bowl on the right in this | | | | weaves a tapestry of the realistic, natural, |
| painting. To view this image, click here. darker | | | | imaginative and historic, reflecting her deep love |
| marks are scumbling. Dry brush is similar, but with | | | | and commitment to the preservation of the |
| this technique, the color is more like being painted | | | | natural resources of this area.Chris is primarily a |
| on, with a dry brush and concentrated color. The | | | | self-taught artist and has studied with regional |
| surface of the table was dry brushed to give that | | | | artists. Chris's work has placed in juried art shows. |
| wood grain look. Another favorite technique of | | | | Her work is in collections in over 35 states of the |
| mine is splatter. I'll use it on most anything I want | | | | US and in collections all over Canada and England. |
| to give a worn/used appearance to. You can see | | | | She is represented by Art in the Village Frame |
| it on the lower right of the bowl. All these | | | | Shoppe & Gallery in New London, Minnesota and |
| texturing techniques give character to an object. | | | | the Earth Works Art Gallery & Studio in Penn |
| The bowl instead of being just any bowl is a | | | | Yan, New York. |
| well-used one. Lots of dinners or cakes probably | | | | |