Textured Landscape

Hero shot of the Textured Landscape artwork with a grey and yellow Michaela Butterworth, Design Team, TCW banner across the bottom.
The completed 11″ x 14″ canvas panel board with textural landscape

Do you love texture? I sure do. I’m one of those people who always wonder what something feels like. And I’m definitely a hands-on artist, creator, crafter, and maker. One of the challenges I love to set for myself when creating new artworks is to try and simulate textures, or create new textures through experimentation. Have you ever tried to do this too? Nature is my biggest influence and it continuously informs my work through my color palette, shapes, lines, and textures. For this project I decided to see how many new textures I could combine and create, while maintaining cohesiveness, story, and emotion. How do you think I did? I’d love to hear your feedback.

The Crafter’s Workshop provided me with some product to create this project. The opinions I share are solely my own.

The purpose of this project is to show you how mediums can be used beyond stenciling to show you how to create three dimensional textures for your artworks. To start the texture, I used a scrunched up a chocolate foil wrapper, because I mean, who doesn’t love chocolate? Ha ha. Next, I used some cheesecloth which I love due to the woven texture and loose threads, with the ability to manipulate the fabric. As shown above, I used a large palette knife to apply the clear gesso both under and over the textures to hold them in place.

Close up image showing the cheesecloth and chocolate foil wrappers, scrunched, arranged, and adhered with clear gesso using a palette knife.
TCW9007 Clear Gesso was used to adhere the three dimensional textural elements to the canvas panel board.

Next, came the granular textures in the form of filler sand, black sand, and Mega Art Stones (lightweight faux art stones). Again, using my palette knife, I applied clear gesso onto the canvas panel board and sprinkled and mixed in these granular textural elements.

Close up image showing the black sand, mega art stones, and TCW9007 Clear gesso.
Close up image showing TCW9007 Clear Gesso with black sand and Mega Art Stones.

Time to add some additional textures in the form of concertinaed painters tape, drywall join tape in two different varieties, a cut up citrus fruit netting bag, and a piece of elasticized netting from the outside packaging of lamb shanks (Got to have an Aussie element in there somehow, right?).

Close up image showing the completed textural elements adhered to the board with clear gesso.
Close up image showing the myriad of textural elements that were used to form the landscape.

Next, I added some die cut foliage and floral elements to really round out the landscape theme. I then painted TCW9002 Black Gesso and TCW9001 White Gesso across all of the elements to prime them in preparation for color application. I chose to use gesso because it has a ‘tooth’ to it. There’s chalk powder in gesso that helps it grab or bite onto the color that it applied over it. Using gesso is another easy way to introduce an additional textural element to your works. Try it!

I really love how all the elements mixed together, with some very structural and linear elements, combined with some very organic and granular elements. Using a combination of textures helps create dimension, depth, movement, and visual interest in your work. Next, using ink sprays, I sprayed colors onto the entire board and dried it. One of the techniques I love to use to bring out highlights is dry brushing. Using a stiff dry brush, lightly apply a tiny bit of TCW9001 White Gesso using quick rapid movements, barely touching the elements. This allows your brush to apply gesso only to the highest parts of the elements, highlighting them, as shown in the images, below. This is also a great way to achieve a shabby chic, white distressed finish to your works. Tip: Be sure the gesso is completely dry before adding any more layers!

If you’ve been following me for some time, you’ll know that my friends have dubbed me the Texture and Color Queen. I’m known for my vibrant, textural and dimensional artworks. So now I of course had to add more color! This is another way to add depth and layers into your work, just keep building up layers. The majority of my works have many layers, which gives them the detail, colors, and textures that my followers (and hopefully you) love.

Time to pull out the Colorsparx Powders! If you look closely at the images shown above, you’ll see moments of Gamboge and Lime Green Colorsparx powders sprinkled randomly around the work, ready to be sprayed with water. Now the trick here is to spray just enough water to activate and move the color to where you want it, without saturating the gesso and dissolving it. It can be a bit tricky, so be sure to add the water very slowly, and be patient for the powders to activate. Important note: If the gesso dissolves, it will affect the vibrancy of the Colorsparx Powders due to the white pigment of the gesso mixing into the activated Colorsparx Powders (in other words they will turn pastel colors!). I chose to use Terre Verte, Cerulean Blue, Chartreuse, Sepia, Lime Green, and Gamboge Colorsparx Powders.

Image showing Terre Verte, Cerulean, Chartreuse, Sepia, and Lime Green ColorSparx powder bottles next to the artwork which has had them applied.
Close up image showing the textures of the background with ColorSparx powders applied.

I love to use Art Alchemy Metallique finishing waxes as a tiny bit of highlight and and shine. I applied these to the elements to help them pop out and shine just a little bit more. Here’s some images of the completed artwork so you can see the details up close for yourself. Happy creating!

Close up image showing the scrunched chocolate foil wrapper, partial die cut, and sand textures.
Close up image showing the chocolate foil wrapper and sand elements.
Close up image showing a range of textures including drywall mesh tape, sand, painter's tape, die cuts, and cheesecloth.
Close up image showing the painter’s tape, die cuts, mega art stones, cheesecloth, and dry wall tape elements.
Close up image showing the mega art stones, sand, paper drywall tape, die cut, and elasticized netting textures.
Close up showing the mega art stones, sand textures, dry wall tape, and elasticized netting elements.
Close up image showing the drywall mesh tape, die cuts, painter's tape, paper drywall tape, cheesecloth, and mega art stones.
Close up of the die cuts and other textural elements.
Image showing the completed Textural Landscape artwork.
The completed textural landscape artwork. 11″ x 14″ canvas panel board.

If you’d like to watch a super quick fly-by video (58 seconds) of this process, please hop on over to my YouTube Channel @TealHareCreations.

Michaela Butterworth
The Crafter’s Workshop Design Team Member

PSSST! I’m really trying to grow my numbers of followers. Will you please help me by hopping on over and following me on my blog and social media accounts and by telling your friends to do the same? Thank you so much!
My Website and occasional blog posts: Teal Hare Creations
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4 thoughts on “Textured Landscape

  1. You definitely are the Texture Queen! The brilliant colors on top of all those 3D elements are stunning. I love the chocolate foil, what a brilliant use of a wrapper.

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