Let’s start with an exercise where we learn how to create texture strips using texture paste and plastic bags. We take a pastry bag or food bag, spread it out, and find a corner in it.

I take my bag, look for a corner, align it, and then begin to bring the texture paste into this corner using a spatula. For the exercise, we need only a small amount, about 3-4 spatulas. Be sure to close the bucket or jar with texture paste so it doesn’t dry out. Dried texture paste contains lumps, and ultimately, we will get the wrong texture in the painting.

Important: Be Sure to mix all the texture in the bucket before using it!! The texture sttles and delamintes during storage and its top layer may be very different from the botton layer.

In this lesson I use texture paste KNAUF super finish.
In America and Canada can be unused the texture All propose from Sheetrock. As this paste is quite thick I recommend adding some white acrylic to it, as well as some carpenter’s glue for guaranteed adhesion to the canvas.

Fill the entire texture paste into one corner of the bag so that everything collects in that corner and then seal the bag. Pour all the texture paste into one corner of the bag, making sure everything is gathered in that corner, and then seal the bag. Since my bag has a fold, I carefully cut off the scissor part with scissors. It is important not to cut the bag itself with the scissors. Then I squeeze the corner so that no texture paste is left and cut off a small part of the corner, about 3-5mm.

Basically you can use any small bags for this job: pastry bags or vegetable freezer bags, and so on.

Next, we need water, a medium-sized brush, a sheet of A4 paper, and a cloth or tissue.

I start pressing the bag filled with texture paste with even force. Press the bag with enough strength that the paste comes out of the tip of the bag. Important: The bag with texture paste should not drag on the canvas; it must always be above the canvas. This way, the texture strip won’t be smeared but even. It will also make it easier for you to control the direction and position of the texture strip.

If I were to drag the bag on the canvas now, I wouldn’t get a uniform “zigzag.” The secret is keeping the bag above the canvas. Practice forming different shapes with the texture: circles, stripes, grids, overlapping stripes. The more you practice, the better you will get.

The speed at which we work is also very important. The speed should always be consistent! If you slow down the speed somewhere, there will be unevenness on the strips. If you increase the speed, the strips will tear at that point. And if the strip tears, you have to piece it back together, and it won’t be a perfect texture. We need to learn how to make it as perfect as possible!

Now we will learn how to layer the strips and connect them. We have placed one strip, and now we place the second strip on top of the first. You should achieve a connection like this. Repeat the process and place the second and third strips on the first. This way, we connect them and create a nice joint without terrible seams.

Practice as much as possible connecting the strips. The more you learn to connect the strips, the better the result will be in the painting you want to create using this technique.

Now we need a brush soaked in water. The brush must be wet! We start to firm up the connection of the strips so that we get a perfectly even connection. The brush must always be wet; this is very important!

This way, we connect our strips with very gentle and delicate strokes. If the connection doesn’t turn out very well suddenly, that’s okay. When we work with the painting, we can correct the unsuccessful spots through sanding. This process you can learn in my following workshops.

With enough practice, this technique will become second nature and you’ll be able to incorporate it into your future paintings to create stunning, one-of-a-kind textured artworks.