How to use Texture Paste and a Stencil for a 3D Painting

This is an interesting an easy technique for using a stencil to make a lovely picture. It is a handy way to add a 3 dimensional look to your paintings.

In my example I used a stencil of a Celtic knot that I'd cut a few years ago. So this is a good way of using any old stencils you may have too.

Celtic knots are usually cut into stone so I wanted a fairly rough looking result. By applying the texture paste and not being too tidy I got the rugged look I wanted. It is simple to do.

Just place the stencil on the painting surface, I used a canvas panel, and use a palette knife to fill the gaps in the stencil with texture paste. You can hold the stencil in place with some masking tape if you want.

Then remove the stencil while the paste is still wet and let everything dry. Be sure to wash the stencil straight away if you want to keep it for using again.

Apply the paint

Once the paste is dry you can paint the picture in any way you want. Depending on the result you want you can apply the paint with a brush, sponge, splatter it on with an old toothbrush, or whatever will achieve the look you want.

In my example I did all the above except using a sponge!

Another use for Stencils – Just Paint

You can also use a stencil and just spray paint through it.

Place the stencil on the painting surface and spray with paint. Thin coats will work best.

Acrylic paints dry quickly so you can build up to a stronger colour by using several thin coats, letting each coat dry before adding the next.

This is a very convenient technique for complicated shapes too.

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Using Texture Paste - an Acrylic Painting Technique

Use texture paste to add extra interest to your pictures.

Impasto Pictures

For impasto pictures it can be very cost effective to use texture paste rather than huge amounts of acrylic paint.

Texture paste is a white product. While you can add colour to the texture paste to colour it, a better way is to apply the white paste to the picture, let it dry and then add the colour over the dried paste. This technique uses a lot less colour too.

You would need to use a lot of paint to achieve a dark colour of texture paste!

Not Just Impasto Pictures

However, you can use texture paste in ‘normal’ paintings as well. I like to use it for things in the foreground and help to give more depth to the picture.

In the photos you can see where texture paste has been used in quite a subtle technique. I could have used straight paint for a similar result, but I find that using a palette knife and taking the paste from its jar–like container a lot easier. I think it gives a better result as well.

In this example I used the paste to add texture to different sections of the front edge of the stone pillar. This particular picture is painted using the acrylics in a watercolour style, but because I’m using acrylics it is possible to add this extra quality to the picture.

(This painting is “The Old Man of Hoy in the Sea Mist”. This stone stack is found in the Orkney Islands at the far north of the UK.)

Other Ideas

You could use this technique for bushes in the front of your landscape pictures. It is handy for stony foregrounds too.

Top Tip - When you paint over the dried paste add darker colours to the hollows to give added depth. A good effect for the minimum effort ;-)

This is a great technique for adding interest to your pictures.

Top Tips for using Acrylic Paints – Number 10

Use Acrylic Mediums to Extend the Range of Effects

Adding an acrylic medium to the paint allows you to create a further range of effects.

For example – the glaze medium can help to produce watercolour effects. Glaze mediums are available in both gloss and matt finishes which will give different results to the final picture. A good idea is to use a gloss medium on the highlights, especially on water, for a lovely finish.

There are also gel mediums and texture paste which will give extra body to the paint for three dimensional effects. Rather than use a lot of paint to achieve a 3D look you can add the gel medium to the paint and it will bulk it up, this is a lot cheaper than using straight paint.

When using the texture paste is easiest to apply the texture paste to the painting surface and let it dry. Then paint the colour you want on top of the dried texture paste. You can add a darker colour to the ‘valleys’ to add to the textural look too.

How to Make 3D Artwork

This article is about making a three dimensional piece of art.

I mentioned this to a couple of people in the last month or so.
It is such a good idea that I hope you find it interesting.

How to Make 3D Artwork

Here is a simple way to use old items you have lying around the house to make a stunning piece of art.

When you try this method I am sure you will be amazed by your results. It can be hard to visualize how this will look, but it does turn out really well.

What you do is collect together items that have different textures, spray them all a metallic colour, and then arrange them onto a black velvet background. Layer some of the items for an interesting look.

Does this work?

I first saw this style of artwork at college. All the students arrived with what seemed to me to be a load of junk. At that point they did not know why they needed the items, they had only been told to bring in a range of things with various textures.

Some had plastic fruit, old coins, keys, corrugated paper, patterned wallpaper, nuts, sandpaper, hair clips, silk flowers, anything and everything!

The teacher arrived with a roll of black velvet and several tins of spray paint in gold and silver.

Everyone selected some of their things to spray paint and then choose whether to use either gold or silver paint to spray them. They used just one metallic colour for all the items in the final piece.

There were a couple of large cardboard boxes in the room which were used as spray booths.

While the items were drying, large pieces of thick cardboard were cut for the background. Once the background cardboard was cut it was covered in black velvet which was glued and taped onto the rear of the board.

At this point the whole project still did not look too promising, however once the items started to be arranged on the velvet covered background there was a buzz of excitement.

The whole thing looked great and it was easy!

A lot of time went into placing the things, however even the ones which were thrown together looked really good. Once the layout of the objects was finalized the items were glued to the background.

This is an excellent method of making your own stylish artwork.

You can group items that are all on one theme. For example a music theme could include an old vinyl record, CD, old cassette with some of the tape pulled out, child's musical toy, bells, and anything else that will add texture to the final piece.

Or you could just use a range of items that you have to hand.

Other ideas

This works best with a dark background but it does not have to be black, it could be brown or a dark wine colour. The metallic colour could be pewter or bronze; there are a wide range of metallic colours.

Remember that you want to have some contrast between the background and the metallic colour. It looks best when there is a good contrast between the dark of the background and the light of the painted objects.

This artwork will be three dimensional and that means that it will need to have a box frame (where there is a space between the background and the glass at the front).

Framing it will help to keep the dust from gathering on the items and keep it looking great.

Tip - Most of the items were glued, but heavier things were tied on with thin wire. The wire ran around the object through the velvet and cardboard and tied or twisted on the rear.

As the backing is cardboard you cannot use very heavy things. Objects that are tied with wire had the wire fed through a large, flat button at the back before tying to help spread the load.

Another object was glued on top to hide the wire.