Texture can strengthen a painting in many ways. It is used to create tone and add interest to an image. In addition, texture gives the painting a tactile presence and interactive quality for the viewer. Texture turns the painting into something people will be tempted to touch and ponder beyond the image it portrays.
Paint Layering
Vincent Van Gogh had this technique down cold. Paint layering creates a crusty, disorderly effect that calls attention to the paint itself while keeping the image intact. In other words, this technique forces viewers to look at the painting both as an image and for what it really is: globs of paint.
Creating textures by layering paint with acrylic is easy--almost more easy than trying to maintain the illusion of a pristine smooth canvas. Acrylic paint dries quickly, and blending can become complicated for painters. The more paint the artist globs onto the canvas, the slower it will dry and the more easy blending becomes. To create textured layers, use especially thick brush strokes. Laden your paintbrush with paint. If you're concerned about the cost implications of using that much paint, start by covering the blank canvas with a light, thin layer of color just to cover up all the white. This will allow you to use thicker brush strokes without worrying about filling in every section of blank canvas.
Oil paint is slightly more complicated, because the artist must follow the rules of fat over lean. Basically, oil paint is composed of pigment and oils. Some oil paints--usually the oil-heavy mixtures--dry more slowly than others. If a fast-drying layer of paint is applied on top of a slow-drying layer of paint, the top layer will crack as the layers beneath harden and settle into their final positions. To avoid this effect, the artist must spread the faster-drying layers of paint (the "lean") on the canvas first. Slower-drying layers of paint ("fat") are applied on top. If this rule is followed appropriately, the paint will dry easily.
Textured Canvas
Some artists stretch and prime their own canvases, while others simply buy pre-primed canvases from arts and crafts stores. If you prime your own canvas, you have a perfect opportunity to texture the canvas with gesso. Use different tools to apply the gesso. Brushes, sticks, palette knives, even fingers will work. Start with subtle textures and increase intensity as needed. Even subtle marks like strokes made by the bristles of a paintbrush will show up through the image (unless you are adding texture to the painting on top).
Alternative Textures
Another method altogether is to paint on alternative surfaces. Try a painting on a cinder block wall, an old door or a multipaned window. Try to match the image in the painting to the surface you are painting on, either literally or thematically. Use the texture of the surface you are painting on to your advantage; give thought to the placement of elements of the image, and use all of these working parts to create a fully realized and balanced design.
Depiction of Texture
The final and possibly most obvious way texture may be added to an image is by painting it into the image. The objects in a painting are textured, and it is the responsibility of the painter to portray that texture through depiction. For example, a teddy bear may be painted as fuzzy, a pine cone may be portrayed as prickly and a tomato may appear to be smooth and slightly wet.
