The structured acrylic pictures may look very sophisticated, but they are so easy to create. Use a palette knife to apply a 1 – 4-mm-thick layer of gel or paste. Smooth down the surface and then use a tool to form different structures. Let everything dry. All finished! For example, you can get crescent-shaped grooves by moving a ribbed palette knife in a semi-circle. Or what about using a scraper to form lines on the still wet surface? With a bristle brush, too, you can get interesting structural effects. Have fun experimenting and just be wowed!

Really simple, but so many possibilities. After all, the SOLO GOYA Acrylic Medium set of eight 20-ml tubes comprises seven different pastes and gels. The popular Universal paste is included twice. It dries white, matt and opaque. If you prefer a fine-grained structure, you’ll love the white Fine Sand structure paste. Brilliant Gold impresses with a glossy metallic effect, Granite Silver with its granite-look finish. The Antique Effect structure paste can be used to obtain small cracks by drying with a hairdryer. The Crystal Pearls Structure Gel conjures a crystalline surface. The Gloss Structure Gel dries transparent, creating a glossy sheen. Each of the media creates a different effect – we love acrylic painting because it is so versatile.

Our structure pastes and gels are water-based. They have been developed to create pastose surfaces on canvas. The structure pastes and gels can be mixed with acrylic paint. The white pastes make acrylic paints a few nuances lighter. After they have dried, the structures can be painted over with oil or acrylic paint (with the exception of Brilliant Gold, Granite Silver, Antique Effect). But we think that when haptics and optics are so closely interwined, you get the most stunning look by leaving it pure and simple.