The addition of texture to an acrylic painting can add a lot of visual interest. I will typically start all of my paintings with acrylics and them sometimes switch to oil paint. There are many wonderful acrylic mediums that are made commercially: pumice, crystalline, hard modeling paste, tar medium – to name a few. Golden makes all of these and they are high quality products. Also, they are very expensive. I experiment a lot and am working in larger formats so I do not want to “hold back” on how much I use because of the cost. I have another post about texture but decided to revisit this way of working again. I am starting a new painting by applying homemade texture to a primed canvas. At this point I only have a vague idea of what the finished painting will be. The texture medium needs to dry overnight before continuing with the painting process.
I great textured medium can be mixed with marble dust (chalk), matte medium, and with the optional addition of glass beads. Tiny glass beads can be purchased from various arts and craft suppliers and are used as fillers for sculpture, cement work, and other processes requiring lightweight fillers. I mix 1 part acrylic matte medium to 2 parts marble dust. This may be thinned slightly with a little water and makes a smooth texture. If you want a heavier, rough texture, mix in the glass beads. I have listed my favorite suppliers in earlier posts. The image below on the right is Golden Hard Molding Paste and on the left is the homemade mix with both smooth and glass beads added.
