Last week I received a box in the mail containing 14 colors of the new Liquitex acrylic spray paints. But I was too sick to rip open the box. If you know me, you know that I will never let a box sit unopened. I'll rip and tear until I've found every item. Finally today I felt well enough to shred the box to get to the paints inside, and I spent several glorious hours familiarizing myself with the contents.
After setting up a make-shift spraying station outside, I took a large sheet of paper and three of the transparent colors: Quinacridone Crimson, Phthalocyanine Blue (green shade), Yellow Medium Azo, plus Raw Sienna (opaque). I wanted to see how these would layer, mix, and blend together before moving on to the opaque colors.
The pic above is most of the left side of a 17" X 11" sheet of practice paper. Not the good stuff. Just 68# cover from an office supply. But it held up remarkably well, and it helped that it was a very bright white.
The pic below is most of the right side of the sheet. If you look closely, you'll notice that much of this side contains off-load prints from the stencils themselves. One of the nice things about the acrylic sprays is that the paint remains open long enough to get a good reverse print, unlike enamel sprays which dry permanently almost instantly. The paint is quick drying, but like all acrylics, it is water soluble while wet, and permanent when dry.
I'm looking forward to becoming more familiar with holding the can, setting my distance from the paper, and learning how to direct the spray to maximize the desired results. There are a variety of caps available for the cans which produce different effects of spray, and I can't wait to try them out. But for today, the goal was to watch how the spray hits the paper and pay attention to layering and blends, so I grabbed a handful of stencils and didn't pay too much attention to anything other than how the paint reacted to the paper, and to the other colors.
I think heavy-handedness, and a tendency to hold the can too close to the paper must be a beginner's hurdle. I had to learn to stand back farther and spray less aggressively.
This is something I've been wanting to explore for years, but my lungs couldn't take the odor of spray enamels. When Liquitex introduced their line of low-odor acrylic paint sprays, I was overjoyed! Presently the sprays are available in 100 hues which are exact matches to the other Liquitex acrylics, and I can't wait to use the sprays together with the heavy bodied and fluid acrylics.
For some guidance in using the sprays and in cutting my own stencils, I've signed on to Mary Ann Moss's "Stencilry" class. It's an older online class, no longer live, but all the information is available in videos and .pdf format, and several other friends have decided to play along. It's great to have a group when you're learning something new, and this is really very new to me. If you'd like to join us, we're learning each at our own pace, but together. No rush. For more information, click HERE. The class now comes bundled with a second class: "Stitched and Stenciled", so it's a two-for. Join us! The more the merrier, and I think you'll have fun!
Love each side of your practice run. I really have to rebuild up my supply of painted and stenciled papers. I've used the watercolor sprays because it's hard to handle the enal spray scent; so I'll be looking for the acrylic sprays.
Posted by: Joanne Thieme Huffman | February 28, 2013 at 05:57 AM
Fantastic. Love the colors. Have Fun!
Posted by: Rita Ackerman | March 01, 2013 at 10:12 AM