Texture

Texture refers to surface quality. it is a perception of smooth or rough, flat or bumpy, fine or coarse. Actual texture in art is associated with sculpture, architecture and the crafts. However many paintings also have actual texture. An artist who uses the impasto technique makes painting have actual surface textures. This technique uses thick layers of paint laid in such a way that some areas are thicker than other. More often the texture you see on paintings are visual textures. The concept of visual in painting is how the eye remembers the textile texture of forms in the natural world. When the real object is remembered to be rough the eyes will perceive that same object in the painting to be rough. A visual texture may create an illusion provide a symbol or it may exist simply for its own sake. Texture helps to enliven a work of art.