Where Texture Shapes Perception

by Alana Knuff  |  January 17, 2026

Brushes and palette knives are painting tools. Brushes apply light to heavy paint and palette knives render thick impasto application. To emphasize objects in the foreground, thick intense hues are appropriate. To emphasize objects far away, thin muted colors work best. The variety adds depth and interest to paintings.
A painting that has all hard edges appears is like a photograph. Value painters use all soft/lost edges. My preference is a combination of soft and hard edges with the hard edges near the point of interest. An exception to this occurs with portraits. In portraits the eyes are the focal point, and soft edges are a must in rendering eyes.