Texture

I love using spackling to add texture to some of my paintings but, since I tend to work on stretched canvas, using it by itself would mean it could crumble off the flexible substrate. In order to combat that problem, I like to mix it with heavy gel media. Gel media by itself tends to leave very soft ridges so the spackling ensures that I get sharper ridges. I like the pink spackling as it turns white once it's dry. It's fun to use an inexpensive house painting brush to get neat texture, or a spatula or palette knife. I also like to carve into it while it's still wet...it's great to  write into as well. A third option which I absolutely love is to use a palette knife to spreada thin layer through a stencil. Once dry, I do give it a bit of a sanding with an inexpensive sanding block, give it a good wipe then paint it with a layer of gesso just to make sure it's ready to go once I'm ready to paint.