I’m going to start this little series with my favorite way to create a wonderful texture in my skies, oceans, sea creatures… admittedly on pretty much everything I do.
SALT.
Painting with salt isn’t just a fun project little kids do at school one day. It’s a wonderful way to play with your paintings. As mentioned in my bio, I fell in love with salt at a young age. I find it adds extra whimsy not only to my paintings, but to my mind-set, helping me to loosen up and let go of a particular outcome.
Many online instruction sites will tell you how long to wait until you add salt, what kind of salt to use, etc. My only rule? PLAY. I’ve tried table salt, rock salt, espresso salt, sea salt… the list goes on. Needless to say, we have LOTS of salt varieties in our pantry. My husband uses them to cook, I use them to paint. I always get blamed when they go missing…
Adding salt to very wet paint will create drastic splotches where the salt has pushed the pigment away. Adding salt to a rapidly drying surface with less water will make for a subtle texture with very small patches of white. Great for adding a little mystery and magic to a sky or background color. But who cares what I’m saying? Try it for yourself!
