The Tribune

DESIGNER 10: By Teri M. Bethel

Painting an incredible design usually starts with a fabulous background. There are a number of techniques you can apply to create a variety of backgrounds. Though they are not a must have in your artwork they certainly add body, flavour and increase the value of your work.

While textured backgrounds are marvellous to look at and feel, they are a great asset for your handbags and shoes as they provide a firm cleanable fabric base. However, they are not suited for all applications. For example, a fully covered garment becomes incredibly stiff when plastered with paint; therefore you may wish to vary the technique a little or use the soft paints as a background or minimize the use of full coverage backgrounds on clothing.

If on the other hand you are creating a design for printing yardage, by all means go all out for the maximum effect as the textile inks used in reproduction will not have the harsh feel of the dimensional paints when completed.

Backgrounds created with dimensional paints are wonderful on fashion accessories such as handbags, shoes, belts and hats. In this case the stiffness you encounter is quite beneficial.

In creating backgrounds there are two schools of thought regarding which comes first, the foreground or object being painted, or the background. There is absolutely no law regarding this; you can do either.

There are times I create my main image and then create the background around it, allowing just a tad bit of my plain fabric to peep through. It adds a bit of character to the work depending on the effect you are trying to create.

Then there are other times where you will want to create the background first and then build upon that. In painting the background first, it is recommended that your paint colours be light. Once the light background is in, building on it and developing it further is quite easy. You may want to lightly tint or colour your background as you develop your subject.

Developing your background is simply an easy way to create visual interest in your project. So have fun and happy painting.

• Teri M. Bethel is a texture painting & handbag instructor. She is the designer of Teri Monique Handbags, a line of custom made art purses for ladies. For more insights visit us at:  http://www.paintwithtexture.com Tel: 242-676-4474