This was one of my first sucessful paintings using this technique of painting a smooth surface in the background and using thick gesso to build up texture for the forground objects.
It took best of show at the Dowagiac art show that summer.

This painting is incredibly 3D. There are several ways to make forground objects look "closer." Texture is only one of them. Blues recede and browns come forward. The asteroids have a lot of browns in them. Glazing is another trick of the trade. Though this is an acrylic painting, I often glaze the finished painting with transparant oil glazes. The planet in the background is glazed this way which makes it look even further from the asteroid in the forground.

I only wish the computer could show this off better. Digital reproductions just don't quite do it here.