Want to try textured art but not sure what to create?
These are the five designs I'd create first, if I had to start textured art all over again.
You don't need to be good at drawing or painting to make these. Textured Art is one of the most beginner-friendly and forgiving art forms.
What You'll Need (aka the Material List)
- texture paste
- canvas
- palette knives
- plaster comb
- acrylic paint
- paintbrush
- masking tape
- water & papertowels for cleaning
As you can see, you do not need a lot of materials to get started.
If you are completely new to textured art and don't know anything about the materials, I'd suggest first starting with my guide "What Materials You Actually Need for Textured Art" and then coming back here.
The tools and materials can be used to create multiple paintings, so textured art is also quite an affordable hobby.
Tip: If you plan on creating multiple paintings, you can often save by buying supplies in bundles or value packs. For example my texture paste is sold also as a 4-pack bundle at a discount, canvases are often sold in 3-packs and palette knives and brushes in sets.
1. Moss
This is the textured art painting I recommend beginners to create first. It is a simple design that you can easily customize by just picking your favourite colour.
You can make it from start to finish in a single session, which lowers the likelihood of you starting it and only partially finishing it.
If it was more complicated, can you imagine doing the first layer, putting it somewhere to dry and then forgetting it and never actually finishing it?
Creating this, you'll also learn important basic skills for textured art:
- how to use texture paste
- how to colour texture paste
- how to create a simple pattern with a palette knife
Tip: This design is easy to spread over multiple canvases. That way you can cover more wall area with 2 or 3 smaller canvases, which are often more affordable than buying 1 large canvas.
2. Overlapping Arches
Arches are one of the most classic textured art designs, and you see them in many forms. One of my favourite version of arches is the Overlapping Arches design.
It is also ideal for beginners, as the arches don't have to be perfect for the painting to look good.
Few practical tips for creating arches:
- The thickness of the paste should by minimum match the thickness of the teeth in your comb
- Use smooth texture paste. If your paste is really stiff, mix in a little acrylic paint to make it runnier. If you are using my texture paste, it's good to go as is.
- Adding a piece of cardboard behind the canvas will help avoid stretcher bar marks. Once the textures are fully dry, remove the cardboard.
What If You Mess Up?
Before we continue to the other designs, I want to quickly remove a fear you might have: "what if I fail?"
Textured art is one of the most beginner-friendly and forgiving ways to get creative.
If you make a mistake, simply flatten out the paste or scrape it off, and do it again.
I make mistakes all the time, and my designs don't turn out like I imagined on the first go. It takes just a few seconds to reset the canvas and do it again.
When I was starting, it might take me 15 or 20 tries to get one arch perfect.
Important thing is just to get started and try it.
3. Waves / Coastal Textured Art
If want to create a more coastal vibe for your home, Coastal Waves are another classic textured art design.
It is also easy to modify depending on your skills and what design you want. Popular and the easier choice is painting the artwork just white and beige.
Alternatively, you could layer several colours and create a more colourful variation. The ocean of this painting was done just with Prussian Blue and Titanium White.
Tips for creating the waves:
- Avoid creating too thick and narrow waves as they might crack more easily
- Detail "foam" behind the waves with for example a palette knife or sponge. When painting the textures, you can easily highlight the elevated surface
- You can change the look by leaving the beach flat or by lightly texturing it with paste or for example sand
4. Ridged Bark
Ridged Bark is one of the easiest textured art designs to create.
The technique is similar to the first painting, Moss. Rather than creating several rows in different colours, the Ridged Bark is done with long strokes from top to bottom.
You can easily vary the look by taping or not taping the edges, leaving the edges white or painting over them and with the amount of ridges you create.
I always like to leave some blank spaces here and there on the canvas, rather than make it full of ridges.
Tips on creating the Ridged Bark design:
- Spread the texture paste evenly on the canvas
- Use a few different sized palette knives to get different sized ridges
- If you push hard on the canvas to create deep ridges, the canvas will peek through. For a clean result, paint over the canvas afterwards (even if you coloured the paste)
5. Dots
Dots is another simple textured art design you can customize to your favourite colours, and you don't need a lot of materials to do it. Only thing you need is:
- a canvas
- a round palette knife
- texture paste
- acrylic paint
Even one colour of paint is enough, because when you mix different amount of paint with the paste you get different tints. I created the Dots in the tutorial video using just Raw Umber acrylic paint.
You can create the Dots in a single session, as the texture paste does not have to dry first even if you lay some dots on top of each other.
How To Get Started?
If you end up creating textured art, I'd love to see what you make. Please tag me (@textuuri) and send me the post if you share your work on social media.
And if you are completely new to textured art, I'd suggest you also check out these guides I have posted:
How To Get Started With Textured Art (Beginner-Guide)
What Materials Do You Actually Need for Textured Art?
How To Colour Textured Art (3 Easy Techniques)
If you want to use the same texture paste I use for all my artwork and tutorials, you can find it from here.
PS. I send practical tips and tutorials via email whenever I have something useful to share. If that interests you, leave your email in the form below.