There are four basic elements to consider when producing a figurative painting: Form the relationship of shapes; Tone - relative light to mid tone to dark of the forms; Colour; and, finally, Texture. Textures are a bit like naming the shapes you have produced. A woodgrain appearance for that shape of specific tone and colour becomes ‘wood’, for example. Depending on how detailed the image is produced, the textual rendering gives the image a strong sense of identity.
In watercolour you can go about reproducing the textural element by using a fine detail brush and a lot of patience. Alternatively, there are various shortcuts that can produce quite extraordinary textures.
The character of textures
Before I go on to describe the textures and how to reproduce them, it is as well to look at the challenge that is set up by the nature of the textures themselves. One has only
