Create An Atmospheric Painting With Spray Paint
Using spray paint to create a painting is an innovative and fun activity. You can spray paint on stretched canvas, wood, glass, metal, poster board, heavy watercolor paper, ceramic tile, hard plastic, or any other rigid material. Spray paint can give your painting a unique atmosphere and texture that few other painting methods can duplicate. Here is the procedure to create a painting with spray paint:
Painting Supplies: Spray paint is an airborne medium so you will need to have some special equipment. Wear a respirator or painting mask to keep from breathing the airborne paint. Have a supply of cloth rags and paper towels handy to texturize your painting and eliminate drips. Have a few metal rulers and paint shields to protect parts of the painting that you do not want to be sprayed when you create straight lines. Have plenty of scrap paper and cardboard that you can cut and use to create shapes that you wish to block from being sprayed. Have a supply of sable and bristle paintbrushes in different sizes to add hand-painted details. Have a few small palette knives handy so that you can scratch out shapes in the wet paint.
Preliminary Drawing: Draw a few reference lines on your painting surface to indicate your design. You can make these lines in permanent ink, pencil, or felt-tip pen. If you are painting a landscape, put in the horizon line. If you are painting a portrait, indicate the outline of the head and where you want to place your subject's eyes, nose, and mouth. These preliminary drawing marks are only an indication of placement and can be changed as you progress on the painting.
Underpainting: Spray complementary colors on the painting surface to begin your painting. If you are going to paint a blue sky, first spray the sky area with light oranges and pinks. If you are going to paint skin tones, first spray those areas with blues, purples, and greens. If you are going to paint green hills, first spray those areas with reds and purples. This underpainting will be covered by successive paint layers and it will give your painting depth and texture.
Background Shapes: Create the background shapes of the painting by cutting that shape out of paper or cardboard and setting those shapes aside. Hold the remaining parts of the paper or cardboard up to the painting and spray the empty inside shape while the paper or cardboard protects the rest of the painting from being sprayed. While the spray paint is still wet, press a cloth rag or crumpled paper towel on the area that you just sprayed to create a mottled texture. Build up successive layers of spray paint in different colors to give your background shapes dimension and texture.
Foreground Shapes: Create the foreground shapes of your painting as you did with the background shapes. Cut the foreground shapes out of paper or cardboard and use the remaining paper or cardboard as a guide to protect the rest of your painting as you spray the empty inside shapes. Paint from background to foreground in successive layers. To create depth, spray dark colors over light colors and light colors over dark colors.
Painting Details: Use a sable or bristle brush to paint the details of the painting. You can spray a small amount of a specific color into a small cup or glass and then dip a paint brush into the paint to get the color on your brush. Paint directly with that loaded paint brush or tap it on another paint brush to get the paint to splatter onto your painting surface. This method works well when you are painting stars and other textural details.
As you create more paintings with spray paint, you will develop your own methods that will allow you to get the atmosphere and results that you want. With time and experience, you will become an expert at creating paintings with spray paint. To learn more, contact a company like Pauly Gone.