Consider wearing an apron if you want to protect your clothing even more. Some people wear protective gloves when splatting paint, since the paint gets everywhere, but wearing gloves is optional. Plastic tarp and drop clothes work well for covering large areas behind your canvas such as walls and the floor. [1] X Research source If you are working on a smaller canvas, consider laying out newspaper behind your canvas. If your canvas is positioned upright, rather than lying on the floor, protect the area behind the canvas, as well as below it. Paint will surely get on the floor when you’re splattering, and with gravity, paint may even drip down off the canvas onto the floor.
If you are painting an object rather than a canvas, still make sure that the object is secure where you position it, and won’t move out of place.
To loosen your paints, simply pour out your paints and keep them separated using a paint plate or plastic cups. Be generous with the amount of paint you use, splattering tends to use up more paint quickly. Then add a small amount of water to the paint (approximately 1 teaspoon) and mix the paint and water together. [3] X Research source Test the consistency of the paint. You can always add more paint to make the paint thicker, or add more water to make the paint looser. Make sure that every color you plan to use has it’s own paintbrush. This will ensure that the paints stay separate, vibrant, and true to color.
This step is optional since you might not want to section off any parts, and just want to splatter all over the canvas. However, if you do want to focus on splatter a specific portion of the canvas, you first must restrict that space before you start painting.
Stand back from your canvas, once you get started painting, you can experiment with the distance you stand from the canvas. If you want thicker splatters, try standing closer to the canvas. If you want smaller splatters, stand further back. When you’re ready to splatter paint onto the canvas, pull your arm back near your head.
Scooping – Scoop up a small amount of paint with a plastic spoon (don’t use a spoon you’ll eat with afterwards, as even traces of the paint could be bad to ingest). Turn the spoon away from you, so the paint is facing the canvas. Hold the handle of the spoon with one hand, and pull back the top of the spoon with your other hand. Then let go of the top of the spoon to sling shot paint onto the canvas. Wrist flicking – Load an ample amount of paint onto the brush and simply use your wrist to flick the brush toward the canvas. This will create harsh, concentrated splatters rather than the spread out, looser splatters made my using your entire arm to splatter the paint. Straw blowing – Dip one end of a straw into the paint. Bring the straw over to your canvas, and place your mouth on the other (clean) side of the straw. Hover the straw about an inch above the canvas, and forcefully blow through the straw to transfer the paint from the straw onto the canvas. This method to splattering paint makes small, concentrated splatter marks, spreading on from a focal point.
