LANDSCAPE BASIC FEATURES: TEXTURE

1. BASIC FEATURES 3: TEXTURE

2. In a general sense, the word texture refers to surface characteristics and appearance of an
object given by the size, shape, density, arrangement, proportion of its elementary parts.
A texture is usually described as smooth or rough, soft
or hard, coarse of fine, flexible or rigid, and others.

3. In terms of art, texture refers to the way an object feels to
the touch or looks as it may feel if it were touched.
In the visual arts, the use of texture, along with other elements of design, can convey a variety of messages and emotions

4. Texture can be three-dimensional, which is physical.
Or texture can be two-dimensional, which is an illusion.

5. The natural world is rich in
TEXTURE: the surface of
any visible object is textured at
certain scale.
A lot of different textures are
observed on both artificial and
natural objects such as those on
wood, plants, materials and skin.
Natural textures
Artificial textures

6. SMOOTH or ROUGH
When teaching a SMOOTH
object we notice that there are no
bumps and it's not soft.
A smooth object has got a flat
surface and it is consistent.

7. ROUGH things are bumpy.
Burlap and sandpaper, for
example, have different
types of rough surfaces.
SMOOTH or ROUGH

10. smooth / rough
skin
smooth / rough
skin

11. smooth / rough
skin
smooth / rough
skin

13. SOFT or HARD
SOFT things are easy
to push down and offer
little resistance.
You can’t push down
HARD things, they offer
a lot of resistance.

14. SOFT HARD

16. SOFT HARD

17. soft or hard? soft or hard?

18. soft or hard? soft or hard?

20. FLEXIBLE or RIGID
FLEXIBLE objects are easy to bend.
They are capable of being turned, bowed, or twisted
without breaking.
You can’t bend RIGID objects.
They break if you turn, bow or twist them.
Flexible and rigid laryngoscopes

21. Pipe cleaners are flexible
Popsicles sticks are rigid

23. FLEXIBLE packaging vs RIGID packaging

24. flexible or rigid shoe?
flexible or rigid shoe?

25. flexible or rigid shoe?
flexible or rigid shoe?

27. COARSE or FINE
COARSENESS refers
to the size of the
particles that make
up an object.

28. coarse grained
medium grained
fine grained

29. When talking about ROCKS, texture can tell us how and where the rock formed.
The texture of a rock is based on the sizes, shapes and positions of the rock’s grains.

32. When talking about PLANTS, texture is the coarseness
or fineness of the plant –the size of its leaves- and should
be one of the first design considerations when placing
plants in a landscape.
Plan view of plant textures:
As a rule, plants with fine textures
should be used in greater numbers,
and plants with coarse textures
should be used in fewer numbers.

33. FINE-TEXTURED Juniperus
Sabina ‘Calgary Carpet’
COARSE-TEXTURED Syringa vulgaris
FINE-TEXTURED Picea abires ‘Nidiformis’
FINE-TEXTURED Juniperus
horizontalis ‘Blue Chip’

34. __________ grained
__________ grained
__________ grained

35. fine grained
medium grained
coarse grained

37. What can you
remember?

42. SPANISH ENGLISH
1 blando, mullido A coarse grained
2 duro, firme B fine grained
3 flexible C flexible
4 rugoso, áspero D hard
5 grano fino E medium grained
6 grano medio F rigid
7 grano grueso G rough
8 liso, suave H smooth
9 rígido I soft

43. SPANISH ENGLISH
1 blando, mullido A coarse grained
2 duro, firme B fine grained
3 flexible C flexible
4 rugoso, áspero D hard
5 grano fino E medium grained
6 grano medio F rigid
7 grano grueso G rough
8 liso, suave H smooth
9 rígido I soft