If you like to paint landscapes, at some point you may have wondered how to paint water so that it looks realistic, or at least cool. Folks who airbrush have the same questions. Usually they use so little paint in the airbrush that it’s hard to get the swimmy paint effects that are easier with acrylic paint and spray paint art techniques.
So here’s something cool. You can use a different kind of airbrush, called a quick change airbrush, to apply more paint and use spray paint art techniques to paint water with your airbrush! Of course you can also use spray cans to do the same. I highly recommend using water based paint.
Learn more about these airbrush techniques here: https://airbrushpaintingsecrets.com
There is a magic ingredient that you probably haven’t thought of as something to paint with, that helps acrylic paint foam up and make beautiful watery effects and bubbles. It’s window cleaner! Regular windex works and other brands that I have tried also work, like Golden Hills in Mexico. I’m sure there is a brand that will do the trick in your area.
To make this wave with an airbrush, I used a spray bottle of windex to mix with the white paint anywhere I wanted foam or spray. Notice the interesting bubbly textures that you get with regular acrylic white paint! You can spray the windex on and then spray white on top of it and then blow it with the air from your compressor to create the foam in a natural way.
This wave was done with solvent based spray paint art. To get the water effect, I used transparent spray paint mixed with white and blue colors. There are many options for different effects. Some transparent and white colors produce bubbles, some do not. It is possible to paint a wave with either if you follow the instructions in our tutorials! Please see the materials list for examples of different kinds of white and transparent colors.
If you do not know how to find the materials list, please visit the home page and sign up for the mailing list. Then you will get access to the materials list. If you are already signed up and can’t find it, just email me, Alisa Amor, at [email protected] and I’ll send you a link.
Here are a few pictures of spray paint and airbrush paintings with water. If you have more questions about spray paint art or how to airbrush water, please email me at spra[email protected] and I’ll add more to this page.
