After several years of experimentation with techniques and products, I am pleased to finally be able to offer hand-painted texture overlays to my canvas prints!

While every one of my paintings is entirely painted by hand, and then professionally printed on high-quality canvas by a local printer, I’ve always felt that they could use a little extra depth. I was introduced to acrylic gels during college but it wasn’t until recently that I realized how they could be used to enhance my printed digital paintings.

Clear acrylic gel medium is traditionally mixed with acrylic paints to give them more volume and extend the paint. They’re offered in multiple consistencies and finishes. They can be used to create glazes, extend paint, and change finishes. Gels are essentially colorless paint; they utilize the same acrylic polymers as acrylic paint. Gels are also excellent adhesives for mixed media so, for instance, you could add gold leaf overtop of a clear gel. For digital painting, the clear gels are used on top of the printed images to provide a 3D texture of brush strokes to create a one-of-a-kind mixed media art piece.

I like using an easel to work on canvases, in a room with good directional light so I can move around and see how the texture interacts. I try to replicate my digital painting process - I start with the background using a big soft brush and regular gels, use medium strokes for the main body with the heavier gels, then use the smallest brushes and high solid gels to put in more detail such as in the eyes or fur edges. I also try to build up texture in the lighter areas of the image, keeping the darks relatively soft. I then finish the piece by using traditional opaque acrylics to highlight areas.

This overlay takes a few days to complete but is well worth the additional time to create a truly unique piece!

Here is an example. The canvas on the left is straight from the printer. The one on the right has the brushstrokes applied. The final effect is subtle but gives a lot of depth to the finished painting!