WAVES OF EXPRESSION

Hi everyone, I hope you enjoyed my blog post on sketching out characters. I want to share one of my favorite texture techniques for this blog post. One of my favorite ways to get a fun texture is to use salt. Salt absorbs water and paints, leaving a lighter organic pattern than using a tissue or paper towel. 

To demonstrate this technique I’ve decided to paint a beach scene. To start, I used a navy blue color for the top of the ocean, then slowly worked my way down to a light blue for the ocean. Once I have those blues laid down, I then sprinkle some table salt throughout the water. I put down the salt sparingly because each piece of salt does pull in quite a bit of paint and water. If I accidentally put down too much salt in one area, I will add the blue paint to my brush, then dot the paint near the salt. I also put down light tans and browns for the sand color.

I then use the smiling hippo blue watercolor sparkly paint, to add some texture after the salt. I then take a sparkly white color, to make the sea foam color pop more. 

Once all of the paint and salt are dry, I use a kleenex to brush off the excess salt. Once that is done if there are still too many light spots in the ocean color, I’ll dot in some blue paint. I then take white gouache, and put that on top of the blues closest to the sand, to help the sea foam pop more. I then dot some white throughout the painting, for some more texture. 

This technique can be used for various organic textures you may need such as water, sand, grass, other organic material, and various other fun projects. If you end up using salt in your next project tag me! I’d love to see what you come up with. Until next time, stay safe and be kind to one another.