How To Colour Textured Art: 3 Easy Techniques

One of the most common questions I get is:

"Do you paint the texture after it dries, or do you mix the colour into the paste?"

In this post, we'll cover 3 different ways to colour your textured artwork, when to use each technique as well as some common issues beginners struggle with.

Watch the full tutorial here:

In this textured art tutorial, you will learn:

• How to colour textured art
  
• Common mistakes beginners make when colouring textured art and how to avoid them
• What paint to use with texture paste
• How to use paint together with texture paste

I use my own brand of texture paste for all my artwork and for demonstrating these techniques. You can find it from here if you want to use the same one.

1. Paint the Textured Art After It Dries

This is probably the most common method. 

You start by applying the texture paste on your canvas and letting it completely dry. After it is dry, you paint over the top with acrylic paints. 

Tip: Drying time depends for example on the thickness of the paste and the temperature. Thin layers might dry in just a few hours, thick layers in a colder environment might take over 24 hours to dry. Always test the surface first to see if the paste has fully dried.

A common problem beginners face when painting over texture paste is that the colour ends up looking splotchy and uneven.

This might happen for several reasons, but most commonly it's because:

• Poor brushwork (causing for example stop-and-go marks)
• Not enough paint was used (underlying colours peek through)
• Low quality paint

And the way you avoid this issue is by:

• Paint using long, steady strokes across the pattern (don't stop in the middle)
• Keep enough paint on your brush
• For full coverage, paint over the textures twice or maybe three times
• Use high-quality, well pigmented acrylic paint

Painting over the textures leads to the most vibrant finish. Whenever possible, I prefer to paint over the dry textures.

Tip: Texture Paste is water-based and as such not suitable for very fluid acrylics. You can thin your paint little with water, but you should not soak the paste with watery paint.

2. Mix Acrylic Paint Into the Texture Paste

The second method is to mix acrylic paint directly into the texture paste before applying it to the canvas. 

This method is convenient because it allows you to create a painting from start-to-finish in a single session without having to wait for the artwork to dry before you can continue it.

Apply a little paint to your paste and mix it thoroughly until you have an even colour. Then apply the paste to the canvas. 

Note that whenever you are mixing colour with a white base, it tints down colour. The colour of the mixed paste will not exactly match the paint straight from the tube.

Common problem beginners make here is mixing too much paint into the paste. This will make the paste too runny to properly hold shape, and it might also lead to cracking.

Tip: If you need to mix in a lot of paint to your texture paste, use heavy-body acrylics rather than the common soft-body ones. They have more volume and will make the mixed paste less runny.

I use this technique whenever I am creating a pattern that would be difficult to cleanly paint afterwards, for example petals. 

3. Partially Mix Paint Into the Texture Paste

This technique is my favourite and you can get a really colourful outcome with just 1 paint and 1 paste.

Instead of mixing the paint completely, you mix it only a little bit, so the colour is not fully blended. 

Then once you apply the paste, you get all the different tints in the texture. A common mistake beginners make here is overworking the partially coloured texture.

One or two strokes too much with a palette knife will already turn a partially-mixed colour into an almost uniform one. If that happens, you can fix it by taking some pure paint (or paste) on your palette knife and applying it on top.

This technique allows you to create stunning artwork in one session, with just a few different paints and texture paste. 

Which Method Should You Choose?

If you are a beginner, I'd recommend starting either by painting over the textures once dry or mixing the colour fully into the paste.

Then once you have some feel for how to use the paste, try the partial-mixing technique.

For example, this design is very beginner-friendly, as it requires just 1 paint and 1 canvas and it can be completed from start-to-finish in a single session:

Important Tips So You Don't Ruin Your Textured Art 

• Use high-quality texture paste
• Let the paste fully dry before painting
• Use only acrylic paints
• Don't add too much water into the paint
• You can always paint over it again if you don't like the colour
• You can mix in acrylic directly into the paste, but the more paint you add the runnier it becomes

Textured Art is very forgiving. Usually nothing is ruined, and you can always repaint or retexture failed paintings.

If you are new to textured art and want help getting started, check out my free guide "How to Start Textured Art (Beginner-Guide)"

Want to Try Textured Art?

If you want to try these techniques yourself, you can use the same texture paste I use in this tutorial. One jar is enough for several small paintings.

textuuri texture paste

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