Texture Petals

Texture petals were so much fun. I remember seeing a lady on youtube showing simple shapes you could make with a pallet knife and texture paste. One of the shapes was a flower petal. Not long afterwards I came across Josie Lewis and I fell in love with her work. So bright and colourful. She used a palette knife to layer thick acrylic paint and paste side by side to create amazing 3D sculpture art. Her work is incredible. On pintrest, I found a photo of a simple flower shape made with several petals and I decided this was what I was looking for. I spent countless days and weeks experimenting with all different types of texture paste I could find. Through the night and into the early hours of the morning, I could be found creating mixtures and testing various paint types along with pastes as well as the best way to pick up and lay down the paste with my palette knife. There were no tutorials back then and not much information about what people were using to make these works. Some pastes I tried would shrink once they dried, others looked too glossy, some lost their shape and dried flat. Below are some of my earliest tries.

After many, many experiments, I found heavy body paint to be the best to use and my favourite paste was a mix of one part Golden Light Molding paste mixed with one part Winsor Newton Galeria Modelling paste. It gave that light airy texture and held its shape perfectly once dried. I found more artists on instagram trying this style too and its was great to talk to them and share tips. I tried a few pieces with just petals but I love to mix different mediums together and also felt something needed to be added which is when I tried added vinyl as a centrepiece. My first piece in this style was Summer Bride. I definitely got that feeling that this was where my texture art needed to go; a centrepiece surrounded by a frame of petals.

I started putting petals onto other surfaces including wooden moons, log slice, vases, and mirrors. I sometimes painted on the centerpiece instead of just using vinyl. My artwork had never been so colourful and vibrant. I really enjoyed playing with alcohol ink and decided to incorporate it into my petal work. It made a lovely background. I chose colours to match my petals or those that complimented them. I thought the metallic gold alcohol ink gave the pieces that extra sparkle.

After a few years of this style of art, I was being drawn to something else - drawing. A gentle nudge at first that grew into a need. But that is for another post.