Texture and SurfaceSelect Student and Master Work

San Francisco Art Institute Intermediate/Advanced Painting

Glenn Hirsch, Instructor

Joseph Hovadik

Daniel Rabier

John Reamer

Kathy Wilson

Ken Gorczyca

Peggy Millar

Elke Ullmer

Painting Texture and Surface

In the caves, painting began as an extension of the sense of touch and texture

The most common marks in caves are ‘fluting’ – or what anthropologists call ‘macaroni’ – people dragged their fingers through the soft limestone for the pleasure of leaving their mark and feeling connected to the earth

In contemporary painting, texture can be thin or very thick – even if you can’t touch it, you can imagine what it would feel like.

Manuel Neri 1985

Part of the pleasure of viewing paintings is to get very close, so you can see the tiniest texture as the paint drags across the weave of the canvas(John Singer Sargent)

Texture can create a ‘sub-text’ of meaning. Here, for example, the face is deformed brutally yet the paint is applied with delicate and sponged marks.(Francis Bacon)

This is an ink drawing which is completely flat to the touch, yet the marks create the illusion of texture in the mind’s eye.(Rico Lebrun ink on paper)

The subtext of ‘touch’ – built-up texture.(Robert Haemmerling)

Vincent used painting knives as well as brushes to create texture in his work.

Can you see the texture in the sky? (Vincent’s view of Paris from Montmartre)

Vincent often worked-out his painting knife strokes in separate ink drawings like this.

Scraping with a painting knife or the handle of a brush while the paint is still wet can reveal a contrasting color underneath.(Arnoldo Roche)

Student work by Katy Holander

This painting has sand mixed into the paint which adds a ‘gritty’ texture both to the paint and to the meaning of this ‘funereal rite.’ (David Miller)

impasto painting with knives

Smearing, like butter on toast

Flat, minimal and smooth

Double-Loading and SMEARING 2 COLORS TOGETHER

Thin LINES

hard edged PATTERNS

Press and lift, use the TENSION of the blade

SCRATCHING and scraping

Change the PRESSURE of your hand, create thick and thin in flowing motion

Eddie Fitzgerald