The so-called „Tonking-Technique“ got its name from British professor Henry Tonks, who was a teacher at Slade, School of Fine Arts, in London. While painting with oil colours, he used to successively press multiple sheets of recycled paper or newsprint on unsatisfactory sections of his paintings in order to remove excessive oil or oil colours. So „Tonking“ means to remove colours during the process of painting.

This procedure, which was originally invented and used for diverse corrections, also works fine with moist acrylic colours. As a nice side effect, it creates diverse sensational structures. To reach this effect, you need to put newsprint or another absorptive material on the moist paint, gently rub it with the back of your hand and then carefully peel it off again. The absorptive paper is going to take off the paint in some places. According to the quality of the material you use for pressing on and peeling off, you will achieve different structures each time.