You’ve mixed your colour into your pastel loaded your palette knife, gone to make a petal… and flop.
The paste spreads. Your nice thick ridges disappear. Nothing wants to hold its shape.
Help. My paste is runny.
If your texture paste is too runny, there are two things I’d check first: how much acrylic paint you’ve added and whether you’re actually using the right paste for the texture you’re trying to create.
1. You might be adding too much acrylic colour
This is probably the first thing I’d look at, especially if your paste was nice and thick before you added your colour.
Every time you add acrylic paint, you’re changing the consistency of your paste. A little usually isn’t a problem, but the more paint you add, the more you can thin out that thick consistency you actually need.
And this is where people can accidentally get themselves into trouble.
You start with white paste. Add your pale pink acrylic. Mix it. It’s nowhere near as pink as you wanted, so you add more. Still too pale? More paint.
Eventually you’ve got the colour you wanted… but you’ve added so much acrylic paint that your paste no longer holds the beautiful thick texture it started with.
Use a stronger colour and LESS of it
This is one of my favourite little tricks.
Remember that your texture paste is white, so it’s going to lighten whatever colour you add to it.
If you want your finished paste to be a soft dusty pink, don’t necessarily start with a really pale dusty pink acrylic. You may need so much of it to overcome the white paste that you completely change your consistency.
Instead, try a stronger or darker pink and use much less of it.
Add a tiny amount, mix it really well and see where your colour lands before adding any more. You can always add another little bit.
The goal isn’t just getting the perfect colour. It’s getting the colour you want while adding as little acrylic paint as possible so your paste keeps its body.
2. You might be using the wrong paste for the texture you want
The other big one.
Not all texture paste is meant to create the same type of texture.
And this is why I’m always a little hesitant when someone asks:
“What’s the best texture paste?”
Because my answer is usually… what are you trying to make?
A paste that works beautifully for a subtle textured background may be completely wrong for a thick flower petal.
Some products are naturally softer and smoother. Others are much denser and more sculptable. Some will hold a palette knife mark beautifully, while others will slowly settle after you’ve applied them.
None of that necessarily means the paste is bad.
It might just be the wrong paste for that particular job.
For my thick textured florals, I need a paste with enough body that when I create a petal with my palette knife and lift the knife away, the paste stays where I put it.
I want to see those ridges. I want it to hold a peak. I don’t want my petal slowly relaxing into a blob five seconds later.
Do this quick test before you start your artwork
Before committing to your canvas, scoop out a little of your paste and make a few palette knife marks on a scrap surface.
First, test it straight from the container. Make a thick swipe and lift your knife away.
Does it hold the ridges left by your palette knife? Does the little peak stay raised? Or does it immediately start settling?
Then mix a small amount with your acrylic colour and do the exact same thing again.
This can tell you SO much.
If it was too soft before you even added paint, your paste may simply not suit the texture you’re trying to create.
If it held beautifully before adding colour but became noticeably softer afterwards, look at how much acrylic paint you’re adding.
And if both tests hold their shape nicely but your petals still aren’t working? That’s when I’d start looking at your palette knife technique instead.
Can you fix paste you’ve already made too runny?
If you’ve accidentally added too much acrylic paint, you can try mixing some of your original paste back in to thicken it.
Just remember there’s one annoying little catch 😂
You’re adding more white paste, so you’re also going to lighten your colour again.
That’s how you can end up stuck in the cycle of:
too pale → more paint → too runny → more paste → too pale again
If you’ve gone too far, sometimes it’s easier to stop and make a fresh small batch, this time starting with a stronger acrylic colour and using much less of it.
And if you absolutely can’t seem to thicken it…
There is one little trick you can try.
You can sprinkle in a VERY SMALL amount of marble dust, which you can find at some art stores, and mix it through your paste to help thicken it.
And when I say very small, I mean very small! Start with the tiniest sprinkle and mix thoroughly before deciding whether you need any more.
I definitely wouldn’t make this your first choice, though. Marble dust can sometimes have the opposite effect if you don’t get the ratio right, and you can end up making your mixture harder to work with rather than fixing it.
So before reaching for anything extra, my first choice is still the simplest: use less acrylic colour.
Start with a stronger/deeper paint colour, add a tiny amount at a time and let the white in your paste do the lightening for you. It’s much easier to keep a nice thick consistency when you haven’t thinned it out in the first place.
So before you buy another tub of paste…
Was your paste thick until you added your acrylic colour? Try a stronger colour and use less paint.
Was your paste soft and runny straight from the tub? It may simply be the wrong paste for the thick texture you’re trying to create.
Does your paste hold beautiful peaks but your petals still aren’t looking right? Your consistency may actually be fine. That’s when I’d start looking at how you’re loading and moving your palette knife.
Understanding that difference can save you a LOT of wasted paste (and a few rage-induced trips to the art shop 😂).
Inside The Floral Class, I show you the paste options I use, what consistency I’m actually looking for, how I add colour without losing that consistency, and then how I load and move my palette knife to create different flower petals.
Because getting the right paste is important.
But knowing how your paste should actually behave is much more useful.
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