How to Add Texture to Your Acrylic Painting - Grains

Hi there! If the idea of adding grains to your acrylic painting seems strange to you, banish the thought immediately! Some really interesting textures can be produced with different grains, seeds and other dry edibles. I have experimented with sesame seeds, couscous and rice grains. I have also used wheat grains and mung beans. Each of these items has a very interesting form - from spherical orb to flat tear drops and some almost crystalline.

When using food items in your painting, it is very important to seal the painting with high quality acrylic varnish to stop the deterioration due to environmental factors.

For this demo, I have used polenta grains, but you can use any one or combination of grains,seeds etc.,.

Materials:
Canvas,
Paints,
Grains
Brush

Step 1.

Start with a base color. This gives the grains a surface to adhere to. Keep in mind that you will need to use several layers of paint to go on top the grains to glue them well to your canvas. So base coat is a good thing here.  Here I have some glitter paint doodles along with the base coat of paint. I was just playing with the glitter and thought it might be fun.

Do not let this coat dry. That is very important for the grains to adhere to the surface of the paint.

Base coat of paint

Step 2.

On top of the wet layer of paint sprinkle as little or as much of grain,seeds etc.,. as you like.

Polenta- coarse grain

Step 3.

Wait for a few minutes before starting this step. This gives the grains a little bit of time settle into the paint.
Now comes the fun part. This is your play time. You can get in there with layers of paints and keep going till you have the desired effect and the grains are glued on.

Silver of the glitter paint and couple of layers of brick
red

Step 4.

Admire your handiwork! :-) It is possible that some grain may still shed at this point. But if you have put in enough layers of paint, then this loss should be minimal. I have used this technique for a while now, almost 5-6 years and have found that the quality of the painting does not suffer at all, especially since I make sure to seal it well.

After it dries

The last step would be to apply a good coat of acrylic varnish to seal it all in and keep it from deteriorating.

I would love to hear from you. Please drop in a line or two and let me know how you like these tutorials!