Painting Tips

Summertime
The time for family vacations, travel, getting ready for a new school year, gardening, picnics, beaches and negative things like sunburns and drying paint.   It is tough to tear yourself away from spending time with your family, but we all need a moment to ourselves, right? I think I can come up with things to do with painting to help in all areas.

Family vacations
This is a time for being with and doing things with your family, but does that mean you have to stop painting during the vacation, not exactly.  Use this time for inspiration, take plenty of pictures, landscape shots can be the background for a family pose.  You just have an ulterior motive for the selection.  Take one picture without anyone in front of it and then take a picture with your family posed in front.  That gives you one for a scrapbook and one for a painting inspiration.  That gives me an idea, paint the scrapbook page as the landscape and attach the cut out of the family using pop dots!  See I'm not even on vacation and I'm getting inspired!

Travel
Have you seen the new compact brushes?  There are four sets available.  Plus this will give you a chance to use those little pots of paint that come in those kits.  Just make sure to put them in a zip lock bag if you are traveling by airplane. 

Getting ready for the new School Year
Get a jump on gifts for teachers, or personalizing your child's back pack.  This gives you a reason and purpose to your painting so your family doesn't think you "just want to paint".  You have a job to do! 

Gardening
Paint your own plant pokes, instead of attaching a seed packet to a stick.  Paint a piece of wood about 4" x 4" with the flower or herb that you planted.  Then attach that to the stick.  Use the Outdoor paints and no sealer is needed.  The wood will last longer if you choose "pressure treated" lumber.  If this is unavailable seal the project with a waterproof sealer even if the outdoor paint is used.

Picnics
Make your picnic special by painting the napkins, cups, or even the blanket and basket.  If the cups are plastic, then use the Enamels paints, just remember that it is not resistant to scratches.

Beaches
Beach chairs are great things to paint!  Beach umbrellas, blankets and towels can also be painted.  Do not use the Dimensional Outdoor paints on the umbrella because it has a tacky feel to it and when the umbrella is closed the paint will stick to itself and peel off.

 

Now for the negatives

Sunburns
The obvious answer is to make sure you put on sunscreen.  But we are dealing with painting, right?  Well, paint your hat, or your wrap!  These can even be painted to match your chair, umbrella, towel, tote, etc.

Drying Paint
Summertime is the time for fans.  Fans mean that there is a lot of air circulating.  Circulating air means that your paint is going to dry faster on your palette.  To combat this keep a spray bottle, pump type, filled with water.  Spritz your paint occasionally to prevent a skin from forming.  Don't spray it too much or too much water will get on your brush and thin your paint.  Use a pump type spray bottle rather than a trigger type.  The pump type has a finer mist; the trigger type squirts too much water.