What refers to the way an object feels or looks as if it might feel if touched?

Texture is one of seven elements of art. It is used to describe the way a three-dimensional work actually feels when touched. In two-dimensional work, such as painting, it may refer to the visual "feel" of a piece.

Understanding Texture in Art

At its most basic, texture is defined as a tactile quality of an object's surface. It appeals to our sense of touch, which can evoke feelings of pleasure, discomfort, or familiarity. Artists use this knowledge to elicit emotional responses from people who view their work. The reasons for doing so vary greatly, but texture is a fundamental element in many pieces of art.

Take rocks, for example. A real rock might feel rough or smooth and it definitely feels hard when touched or picked up. A painter depicting a rock would create the illusions of these qualities through the use of other elements of art such as color, line, and shape.

Textures are described by a whole host of adjectives. Rough and smooth are two of the most common, but they can be further defined. You might also hear words like coarse, bumpy, rugged, fluffy, lumpy, or pebbly when referring to a rough surface. For smooth surfaces, words like polished, velvety, slick, flat, and even can be used.

Texture in Three-Dimensional Art

Three-dimensional artwork relies on texture and you cannot find a piece of sculpture or pottery that does not include it. Fundamentally, the materials used give a piece of art texture. That may be marble, bronze, clay, metal, or wood, but this sets the foundation for the work feels if it were touched.

As the artist develops a piece of work, they can add more texture through technique. One might sand, polish, or buff a surface smooth or they might give it a patina, bleach it, gouge it, or otherwise rough it up.

Many times you will see texture used in patterns such a series of intersecting diagonals lines that give a surface a basketweave look. Rectangles staggered in rows offer the texture of a brick pattern and concentric, irregular ellipses may imitate the texture of wood grain.

Three-dimensional artists often use a contrast of texture as well. One element of an artwork may be smooth as glass while another element is rough and mangled. This contradiction adds to the impact of the work and can help convey their message just as strongly as a piece made of one uniform texture.

Texture in Two-Dimensional Art

Artists working in a two-dimensional medium also work with texture and the texture may either be real or implied. Photographers, for instance, almost always work with the reality of texture when creating art. Yet, they can enhance or downplay that through the manipulation of light and angle.

In painting, drawing, and printmaking, an artist often implies texture through the use of brushstrokes lines as seen in crosshatching. When working with the impasto painting technique or with collage, the texture can be very real and dynamic.

Watercolor painter Margaret Roseman, said, "I aim for an abstract element of a realistic subject and use texture to add interest and suggest depth." This sums up the way many two-dimensional artists feel about texture.

Texture is something that artists can play with through the manipulation of their medium and materials. For instance, you can draw a rose on a rough textured paper and it won't have the softness of one drawn on a smooth surface. Likewise, some artists use less gesso to prime canvas because they want that texture to show through the paint they apply to it.

Texture Is Everywhere

As in art, you can see texture everywhere. To begin to correlate reality with the artwork you see or create, take the time to really notice the textures around you. The smooth leather of your chair, the coarse grains of the carpet, and the fluffy softness of the clouds in the sky all invoke feelings.

As artists and those who appreciate it, regular exercise in recognizing texture can do wonders for your experience.

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Texture is the element of art that refers to how things feel on the surface (rough, smooth). Texture is the surface quality of an object i.e. how someone feels when touched or looks like it would feel if touched. For ex: Sandpaper is rough. Velvet is smooth. A drawing of a house could show a rough exterior and smooth interior surface. Texture adds variety and interest.
So texture refers to the surface or “feel” of an object whether, smooth, rough, soft, etc. Texture may be actually felt with touch- tactile or implied by the way an artist has created the work of art- visual.
Textural surfaces range from smooth to rough or dull to shiny (Fig. 2.3 and 2.4). So a careful balance is needed in a room. The rough texture absorbs more light and smooth surface reflects light. In small and dark rooms smoother textures should be used to reflect more light. Large rooms with many windows can show rough texture gracefully. Textures in homes may refer to wall finish, rugs, wood work, an oil painting, a ceramic urn, wood or glass surface on dinning table used for furniture. Some of the textures which create interest among the architects, interior designers and home makers are expressed as follows:

The texture refers to the tactile quality of the surface of any object i.e. the qualities that are perceptible through the sense of touch. It refers also to the way small constituent parts are combined in a substance: for example the pliability or rigidity of object also has textural significance as it affects the quality of the surface. The term texture is applied to effects which give an illusion of texture, such as streaked, or marbleized. Texture is an element of art that is valuable in giving character and beauty to objects, interiors and buildings. Interior decorators, both professional and amateur, are becoming more aware of the importance of texture. Refinement and appreciation of texture suggests that a relation exists between light, color and texture.

.One of the first decisions to be made in furnishing a room or a house is the selection of furniture wood or woods, for all other textures needs to be in harmony with the wood. Each kind of wood seems to produce a definite feeling in the observer. Use of Pine and oak, suggests strength; whereas mahogany and rosewood suggest elegance. Obviously, oak and mahogany furniture cannot be combined. Walnut, however, is medium in texture and can be used either with mahogany or with a light type of oak. Mahogany furniture needs to be matched with delicate textures like fine silk, satin, velvet, deep-pile rugs, and light weight brass hardware to accompany it whereas, with oak, coarser textures such as tapestry, large patterned linen, iron metal and parchment should be used

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