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The recent Dino Academy event at the Museum of Life and Science was a perfect opportunity to create some new mixed-media textured dinosaur paintings. The series started in 2023, when the NC Museum of Natural Sciences invited me to participate in a Sensory Friendly Afternoon. The museum was closed to the general public, with limited attendance available through free advance tickets. Guests included individuals and groups from organizations such as the Governor Morehead School for the Blind.

I’d been using textural elements in my acrylic paintings since 2012, but workshops with Carol Nelson - an amazing painter and absolute mad scientist when it comes to mixed media - had inspired me to experiment with heavier textures. The Sensory Friendly event gave me a chance to explore just how far I could take the textural side of my work. I generally don’t need an excuse to paint dinosaurs, and in this case, they were an especially good subject.

The Triceratops I created incorporated modeling paste applied with stencils, “carved” with a Catalyst tool, and impressed with faux wood grain. Other areas included gel prints made with bubble wrap and scales created with embossing powder. I also made a tactile swatch board showing the different textures and encouraged visitors to “decode” the painting by matching each sample to the corresponding area of the dinosaur.

One of my favorite parts of the event was watching how deliberately some guests explored the painting. They would feel a swatch carefully, find the matching area on the Triceratops, and then compare the two. Texture wasn’t simply an added effect, it had become another way to read the artwork.

That experience has stayed with me, and this year’s Dino Academy gave me a chance to return to the idea with new paintings and new experiments. I love seeing what happens when artwork invites more than looking, especially for visitors who connect strongly through touch and sensory exploration.

And there’s something satisfying about making art where the instruction is the exact opposite of the usual museum rule: Please touch the dinosaur.