Creating a textured Powertex landscape
This textured landscape was created for the Powertex UK design team. The theme was Italy, so I looked at some photos of Venice to inspire me. The beautiful buildings and bridges were the perfect view for my Powertex art. Use the materials list and the step by step guide to create your own. Use your own photos as a reference or create from your imagination.
(This project was originally featured on the Powertex UK magazine.)
This project is a dimensional canvas so use card, paper, fabric and texture mediums to create the structures. Use Powertex Bister sprays for muted colours with lots of atmosphere.
Materials
- Canvas or board – rectangular
- Powertex Universal Medium (Fabric Hardener) in Ivory
- Easy Structure – Powertex texture paste
- Stone Art – Powertex texture medium
- 3D Sand – Powertex texture medium
- Bister pigment sprays in Blue, Brown and Red – ready mixed
- Cardboard, heavy papers and fabric – packaging and scraps are great
- include embellishments, lace or wooden pieces you like
- A flat paintbrush – I use 3/4″ or 1″
- Large pieces of paper for tearing up as masks – scrap or copy paper
- A circular stencil (I used a clock face) or a circular piece of card
Laying down your texture
Paint the canvas with Ivory Powertex to prime the surface. Choose fabric, paper and card pieces to use for your buildings, bridges and structures. Tear them to size or layer them to create the shapes. Do a practice layout first before you stick anything down. Watch the video for more details.
Use Ivory Powertex to coat and adhere the pieces and create lots of texture in any fabric or papers. The Powertex will work as a glue as well as a fabric hardener and paint.
Apply Easy Structure paste to the lower parts of the canvas. Use a palette knife or plastic card to scrape it down to create the texture in the lower parts of the landscape. When your textured pieces are in place, leave it to dry or warm gently with a hairdryer to set.
This video gives you a speedy glimpse into how I put my first layers of texture down. You can see I had a couple of pencil lines on my canvas to help me but this isn’t necessary. It’s also upside down to you!
Adding textures with Stone Art and 3d Sand
Add more textures as you like, I use Stone Art and 3D Sand for natural looking textures.
Brush some Ivory Powertex onto the “building” and “bridge” shapes. Sprinkle the Stone Art onto the Powertex, be generous and press firmly. Gently brush away any excess Stone Art with your fingers. (It can be put into a container for use later.) Repeat this until you have a raised rough texture on the buildings that you like.
Apply a layer of Easy Structure above the bridge using a plastic card or palette knife. It needs to be thick enough to press the circular stencil into the paste for texture. Any stencil will work but wash the Easy Structure from your stencil straight away.
Daub on some Ivory Powertex in areas where you would like a finer texture and sprinkle 3D Sand onto it. This is great for buildings and walls and can be layered on top of the Stone Art too. When sprinkled onto wet Powertex the 3D Sand is best left to dry before the excess is brushed off.
Adding colour with Bister
When all the textures are dry it’s time to add colour. Bister sprays have muted colours and are perfect for the atmosphere of this painting. The water based ink runs into the textures making dark shadows and picking out all the textures in the surface. I’ve chosen blue, brown and red for my project. The inks will blend and mix on the surface too.
Spray the Bisters onto your canvas. Focus mainly on the textured areas and use torn paper scraps to protect areas you don’t want coloured. Overlay colours while they are wet for blending. (It’s a good idea to protect your work surface too as Bister sprays have a wide reach.)
Use a wet cloth or paper towel to wipe away Bister from the raised areas to create highlights. Bister will stain the surface but can be wiped back. For brighter highlights or to lighten areas, when the surface is dry, use a brush to paint on Ivory Powertex. I brushed a little at the top of the canvas and also over the “water”.
This canvas is deep in textures and the muted colours are atmospheric and soft. The techniques used are simple but this project needs some drying time between layers. It’s great project to do if you have a little time each day to work on something.
If you have some fabric and card scraps, try combining them with Powertex products for a textured canvas. You can use a photograph for inspiration or just play with textures on a canvas with no goal in mind. This project is great if you love abstract textures and happy accidents!
If you’re new to Powertex, this blog is a good place to find out more.
