Textures

Questions:

1. Do you know what a texture is?
2. Touch some objects you have around you. What do you feel when touching them?
3. Look at the objects and textiles around you. Do you see any texture?
4. Do artists use Textures in Art?

Whenever you talk about the surface quality of an object, you are discussing its texture.

Texture is the element of art that refers to the way things feel, or look as if you could feel if touched (the illusion of touch).

Types of textures

Texture is the character of a surface and is both tactile and visual.

• Tactile texture is the tactile quality of a surface, such as rough, smooth, sticky, fuzzy, soft or slick. A real texture is one you can actually feel with your hand, such as a piece of sandpaper, a wet glass, or animal fur. It also can be created by an artist by doing a collage.
• Visual texture is a visual quality of a surface. It is the result from painting or drawing as the real texture.  Visual texture is an illusion of texture created by an artist. Paint can be manipulated to give the impression of texture, while the paper surface remains smooth and flat.   

 

This four images are axamples of Tactile texture: Wood, water, grass and paper.

 Two examples of tactile texture: textile and writing.

 

 















We can also divide  texture in another category:

• Natural texture. It's the texture we find and it is not made by humans. For example: stones, sand, rice, etc.
• Artificial texture. It's the texture from things made by humans. For example: a pencil, a chair, a raincoat, etc.

Which one of the above textures are natural and which artificial?

    Texture can have more impact through variation and relief - contrasting rough areas with smooth ones. That will make a painting far more interesting than an even, unrelieved texture going from edge to edge. Remember - creating textures is easy; it’s where and how you place them that makes the difference between a good painting and an ordinary one. 

Techniques that use textures:

    Collage. The term collage derives from the French "coller" meaning "glue". It is a form of art in which various materials such as photographs and pieces of paper or fabric are arranged and glued together on a surface like paper.

    Tromp l’oeil= fool the eye. It is an art technique that creates optical illusions so the painted objects appear in three dimensions. It is usually used in murals.

Texture in sculpture

Collage by Picasso

Painting using the tromp l'oeil by Pere Borrell. 1874

Activities________________________________________________________________

1.      Sand painting.

·        Materials. Thick white paper, glue and sand.

·        Method: Apply the glue with a paintbrush creating the shapes you want. Before it dries cover the picture with sand and let it dry. Then take off the remained sand.

2.      Create printing textures.

·        Materials. Thick white paper and tempera painting.

·        Subject. A range of materials (cotton, paper, plastic, a leave, etc.)

·        Method: Paint the materials with any colour and press them softly onto the paper surface.

3.      Create rubbings textures. In this exercise, you'll start to explore the connection between touching and drawing.

·        Materials. Paper of varying weight and colour, soft pencil or chalk.

·        Subject. A range of rough surfaces. 
·        Method: Place a piece of paper directly on the surface you intend to take the rubbing form, and then use a soft pencil to rub on the paper.