how to

How To ~ Get Mesi with Textured Art 

Thank you for purchasing your DIY Kit, or joining us in studio. Here is your complete how-to guide on bringing to life your very own textured art piece. 

At Mesi, our aim is for each person to create a piece they love, that suits your space and is unique to your own taste and aesthetic - in hopes that it won't go to waste. We hope that you allow yourself the creative freedom to go with the flow, wind down and enjoy your time creating. 

FIRST THINGS FIRST

The background. We want to spend 5-10 minutes developing our background by using approximately half of the texture cream, and your flat tip palette knife. Spread the texture cream evenly across the face of the canvas. Your background can be as textured or as smooth as you like, keeping in mind that if you're planning to add a lot of texture over the top - you'll want this to be fairly thin. 

If you'd prefer a coloured background, you can opt to paint the canvas first, or simply add paint to a portion of your texture cream to colour. 

TIP: for the smoothest result, use the flat side of your texture comb to really even out the texture cream. Use the palette knife in alternating motions to create more texture as desired. 

THE OVERLAY

The fun part - your design! There are so many variations of textured art, and the opportunities of what you can create are endless. Florals, waves, shells, palms, arches, rainbows, hearts, silhouettes and so on... 

 

FLORALS 

To create the perfect floral, you want to use the pointed tip palette knife. Remember to always keep the texture cream on the bottom of the tool. Simply segment a portion of the texture cream onto your palette board, colour as desired, then get creating. Push the palette knife away from you into your segment of texture cream, flip it over the top and then scrape the bottom back towards you. 

TIP: Ensure you have clean edges on either side of your palette knife to get the perfect shaped petal. 

Place the palette knife into the canvas nice and flat (not on an angle), push down, wiggle the sides slightly and pull back to create your petal. 

 

ARCHES 

The perfect arch shape is made with a thick layer of texture to ensure volume & depth. If you're only doing arches on your canvas, go ahead and apply all of the texture cream. 

To use your comb and create the perfect arch, you want to ensure your canvas is laying flat on a firm surface (table). Start at one edge, and either come back to that edge or follow off the opposite. 

Hold your comb firmly, and slightly slanted. Take it across the canvas until you want to turn. Hold the centre of the comb in and pivot over the top back inline with where you stopped, then follow the comb through back to the edge. 

On a firm surface with a thick texture background, you should have the perfect arch. If you made any errors or aren't happy with your shape, simply re-apply the texture, smooth it out and start again. The best thing about textured art is that it is just SO forgiving.  

TIP: For coloured arches, paint when dry! The texture takes 12-24 hours to dry, however the end result if you wait until the texture is dry is SO much better than if you attempt to do this when it is wet. 

 

PALMS & BODY SILHOUETTES

If you're unsure what to create, go for the palm or the body silhouette. These are two stunning pieces that you'll never tire of. 

For both of these pieces, you'll just need your palette knifes & 3/4 of the texture cream as your background. 

Initially, use the flat tip palette knife to outline your silhouette, and the trunk + fronds of your palm. This gives you a guide of where you'll need to work with. 

Next, texture! For the palm, we like to add a thin layer of texture cream where you have outlined the trunk to add depth. Then, simply use the pointed palette knife to flick across the texture cream in sideways motions to create the effect on the trunk. 

To add the leaves of the fronds, simply patiently flick out small, consistent lines using your palette knife to create the dainty hanging leaves of the frond. 

Our silhouette will always be different, we find the simplest way is to create a thick texture line on the outline of the shape, by using the flat tip palette knife. Simply add texture to the base of the palette knife, angle as you apply to the line and then smooth acrooss, being guided by the curves. This will help you create the outline. 

Once outlined, texture & smooth the centre of the silhouette to bring the piece together.