What Is Texture?
Texture is how something FEELS when you touch it. A kitten is soft and fluffy. A rock is hard and bumpy. A banana peel is smooth and slippery. Sandpaper is rough and scratchy.
In art, texture is how a painting LOOKS like it would feel if you could touch it. Even though a painting is flat, artists can make parts look bumpy, soft, rough, or smooth!
With finger painting, you can make real textures that you can actually feel! When you pile on thick paint and make bumps and ridges with your fingers, the paint dries with those bumps still in it. Your painting has real texture that you can touch.
Let us learn some ways to make different textures with our fingers:
Smooth: spread paint evenly with your palm for a flat, smooth area.
Bumpy: dab your fingertips up and down quickly to make a bumpy, stippled surface.
Swirly: make spirals and curves with your finger for a wavy, flowing texture.
Scratchy: drag your fingernails through wet paint to make thin scratched lines.