Exploring the Depth of Paintings Through Colour, Texture and Layers

In my own paintings I create a lot of texture and layering of colour and lines, so let's go on a little tour of my favourite crops and close-ups, and how I created the effects. Taking a closer look at them we can see how my favourite techniques can create a little magic. There are always interesting areas of a painting that deserve a closer look!

Landscape Paintings

"The Wildwood Awakens" is a classic example of how I used texture and colour layering when I work in acrylic on birch panels.

What you can see here is layering of painted colour and caran d'ache crayon lines over a textured surface. The texture is created by tissue paper that is applied before painting. The small areas of copper are where the paint has been applied with a painting knife onto just the peaks of the texture. Once the main colours have been applied, I spend time with a small brush and thin transparent colours, painting in the dips in the texture. This enhances the effect of the gaps in the plant growth, fallen leaves and other debris you would find on the ground in a wooded area.

Here you can see the difference between the background (top left) and the foreground. The background has no texture applied, so the illusion of texture is created using paint strokes of different colours. This contrasts well with the textured areas, and the painted objects becoming larger as they get closer in the painting to create the sense of depth. Another element that adds to this depth is how the colours applied are warmer in the foreground compared to the receding scenery.

In this painting, Under the Skylarks, you can see the many layers of colour in the green/grey hill behind the tree. Again I have used tissue paper here, and when I layer up the colors, I let some paint from the previous layer show through. The layered paint all builds up to depict the undulating ground covered in different grasses and wildflowers that make up the heathland. In the foreground the heather and dried grasses are painted in more saturated colours to bring the foreground closer. The tree bark is painted taking full advantage of the texture underneath, helping to create the rough appearance of the birch tree.

"The Burnished Autumn" is a painting where I added gilded variegated copper sheets to the painting to enhance the richness of the autumn colours. I then continued to use my painting knife to add colour over some of the area so that the metallic variations would peek through.

Many of my landscape paintings have this rich texture. I sometimes use just a canvas surface for texture, or use difference mediums such as molding paste, but my go-to method is using paper as I love the unpredictablity of the effect. I can manipulate it to a degree, but on the whole the application is quick and I am left with results that area always interesting.

Nest Paintings

The nests on claybord are a recent addition to my work, but I love how they turn out, so I will take you through a closer look at the surface.

You can see a little of the surface of the claybord in the bottom right. The clay (kaolin) is white, and it is a surface that can be scratched into. I use watercolour, indian inks and some gold mica flakes. The watercolour and inks are layered to create depth, and the scratching out using special tools can be used at any stage during the layering process to create details. Some marks are painted over and some are left white. The overall effect creates an ethereal piece which describes the transient nature of the nest, and the density of the nest fibres.

In this one, you can see how the scratching out can be used in an illustrative way to depict feathers and tiny strands of moss. I remember that this chaffinch nest also had a lot of horse hair threaded in amongst the grasses and moss, creating a hazy effect when viewed from a distance.

The texture in this blackbird's nest was made in a different way. This is a tiny painting on a birch panel, and I created the nest texture using acrylic and vintage coat-cotton strands. Once the strands where dry, I highlighted them using metallic sennelier oil sticks.

Works on Paper

PaintOn Multimedia paper is wonderful for the techniques I use to create these little abstracts. These paintings are worked using layers of acrylic, charcoal and Caran D'ache crayons. I also use random objects to stamp into the paint, e.g. a bottle cap. Applied with a painting knife gives the textural effect by guiding the paint into position, but allowing the non-contact areas to be left. Limiting the colour palette helps the abstract to be harmonious and interesting.

In the close-ups below, you can see where I used a fan painting knife to scrape out parallel lines, and a bamboo skewer to draw twigs. The coloured spots are created using acrylic ink and a spattering technique.

Trees and Grass

Lastly I just wanted to share with you a crop of one of my most recent paintings in which I spent a long time working on the grass and tree trunk textures. This is a larger painting which featured a great spotted woodpecker flying towards the foreground tree. The whole painting was made using a muted colour palette. Because the grass was a fairly plain and pale, it meant that I had to concentrate on making sure the grass and tree trunk got the attention it deserved. You can see how I utilised the textured surface to enhance the grass and the bark in such a way that it seemed realistic but remained creative, almost abstract. It was a delicate balance to achieve, and after many hours of layering and teasing, I finally got the look I wanted.

Final Thoughts

When artists plan their paintings they are conscious of each area of the painting and how it affects the rest of the composition. When I was learning how to paint with a limited palette in an expressive way, we were constantly taught to look at different areas with a viewfinder to help us bring harmony across a painting, and also to look at the areas that really worked. This helped us to grow with our painting and consequently over time, we could progress into better artists.

I still used the technique to help me with paintings when I review at the end of a painting session. I also use it when creating intuitive artworks on paper. I will use a larger piece of paper and fill it all with paint. When I have finished, I will decide on a size for the mount aperture and then move it around the painting until I find the best composition. The art of cropping paintings and photos is a familiar subject to artists, and it can be said that any painting can be a collection of smaller paintings if you cut them up!

When it comes to painting on a panel, I will use sketches in my sketchbook to find the right composition, and then mark that out on the panel.

There is so much more to making art before we even get the paints and brushes out sometimes, but it is an enjoyable process!

I do hope you've enjoyed this months blog. If you would like to share any thoughts, please comment below

Next month I will be back with more creative insights, meanwhile, enjoy the autumn sunshine and evening cosiness.

Debs x