Speaking of nests!  "Nest building" gives you the opportunity to use lots of texture. There's an easy way to get just the slightest bit of raised texture on your painting surface to capture the pigment in unique and interesting ways.

Use any thick medium.  Gesso, molding paste and any of the other pastes dry white, and all the gel mediums dry clear. They all work to get this texture as long as they have a thick viscosity.

Embossing is creating a raised design or one that is in relief.  Debossing is creating an indented design.  You can use any number of tools to do this.  In the above piece I used a stencil to create both raised and indented surfaces.  Here's how.

For embossing, place your stencil on the paper surface. Using a spreader, put a thin layer of gel or paste over the stencil and scrape off the top layer so that it settles into the stencil cut outs only. Remove the stencil and let dry.

For debossing spread a very thin layer of gel or paste onto your paper surface and level it with a straight edge.  While it's wet, press the  stencil onto the wet surface to make an indented pattern.  This is more subtle than the embossing and just as effective.  

You may also spread the medium as in the previous paragraph and use a color shaper or other tool like a stamp to make shapes into it.

Once dry, start glazing over the texture with your fluid acrylics, inks or watercolors.  Let the colors mix on the paper and settle into the designs in interesting and surprising ways.  Let each layer dry before adding more glazes.  Rub some pigment on with your finger or sponge it onto just the raised areas or try some blotting to get the look of light reflected.  You'll love the depth and mystery of your painting. 

October 12, 13, 19, 20, ARTrails Open Studios, 10am-5pm both weekends.  Catalogues will be coming out soon so you can plan your route to visit studios. Come visit my studio for a chance to purchase art, learn about my processes and techniques and find out more about upcoming classes.