New Papers for Spray Paint Art and Airbrush!

First of all, why would you want to paint on anything but poster board?

Well, you might not. Poster board is cheap and easy to find. It works great with spray paint art techniques.

But the disadvantages I have found are that you miss out on all the effects you can get with different papers. Some papers are more absorbent, some less, some have texture. Some papers are better sellers in galleries and on boardwalks. All of those papers are not poster board!

When using spray paint art techniques on Yupo paper, you can get many water color effects.

When painting on prepared water color paper, you can get a little bit of texture and the final look is very professional. (Prepared with Gesso and acrylic gloss) 

When painting on canvas, you get the ability to do large professional works that are light to transport and work well in galleries.

This July I am going to start exploring all of these papers and more with you. 

One of the fun things about switching papers, especially with water based spray paints or airbrush paint, is that effects work differently on different papers. 

Yupo, for example, is not very absorbent. It works well for diluted paint, or paint applied with posterboard or newspaper. Check out the detail that you can get from a few swipes of paint. It would look very different on poster board or other papers.

Water color paper comes in many weights. Some have quite a bit of texture. You only need a little bit of gesso and sealer to prepare it, so you don’t lose that much of the texture. Texture can add beauty and complexity to your painting. Poster board doesn’t have any!

I hope this has inspired you to experiment with some new directions.