Creative Chaos: The Beautiful Mess of Spray Painting

So I type in the words "spray paint" into google images to see if I can find a cute image to use for this blog post and within a few seconds I discover one of my own photos of me "spray painting" a can for one of my decoupage creations. Although, I notice that this image is not linked to my blog, but instead a DIY Life article from AOL! "How funny" I think to myself; as I read the comments on the article I start to giggle over the first three:

"You never hold a can in your hand and spray it like your picture shows. Especially with manicured nails, that's crazy as anybody familiar with spray painting knows...Change the graphic !!!"

"Hahahahaha!!!!!!!!!!!!! You sure are right. Leave it to AOL to totally screw things up"

"I also keep old gloves to wear when spray painting to avoid getting any on my hands. It is a good Idea to work in a clear area so you can easily move around the object you are painting, so you can avoid having to lift or move it by touching the areas you just painted."

*Chuckles* Well, I took this "show photo" for a tutorial I made in February; the tutorial needed to have nice, well-lit photos and I wanted them all to match and look similar...thus this photo was just for show and therefore this is not how I really spray paint my canisters. Ha ha, I also HARDLY EVER have red painted finger nails (also another embellishment of beauty that I added to my tutorial). By the way, if you all are interested in viewing my tutorial about how to make hand-painted, upcycled decoupage canisters you can find it here in my blog post:

http://ecofriendlyfreckles.blogspot.com/2010/02/eco-friendly-freckles-tutorial-supplies.html

Also, here is the link to the AOL DIY Life article titled "How to Spray Paint Glass, Metal and More" by Allegra Muzzillo (I really appreciate this image feature...great exposure for my art!):

http://www.diylife.com/2010/06/04/how-to-spray-paint-glass-metal-and-more/




This photo of mine and the DIY Life article were also reposted on Active Rain in an article titled "STAGING GREEN - REUSE & REPURPOSE JUST ABOUT ANYTHING" by Judy Colburn; I like how they list under my image "Note: photo is for visual purpose only - place item on flat surface in open area":

http://activerain.com/blogsview/1692887/staging-green-reuse-repurpose-just-about-anything

Wow, this just goes to show you that when you post on your blog, your content and images are open to everyone and they just might feature your images without you knowing...this is great, free promotion and I LOVE IT! So to you fellow Etsyians out there, this might be an inspiration for you to start blogging to promote your work and shop!



Welcome to my creative chaos of spray painting! This is how I REALLY spray paint my canisters before I hand-paint and decoupage them. I lay down an old shower curtain (ha ha, the curtain rings are still attached) and I GET OUTSIDE! I like to spray paint outdoors in the open, breezy air. However, if I was brush painting instead of spray painting (like I do for painting the various pretty colors inside of each canister), I will paint indoors near an open window. I also typically do this in my bathroom/laundry room with the air vent on..."extra ventilation" I assume.



When spray painting outside, I like using an old, plastic shower curtain because it serves the purpose of catching the painting (don't want do get it on our pretty grass near the landscaped and decorated pond area). Ha ha, I also like to wear rubber gloves, since I don't want to get my precious hands covered in glossy black spray paint (which is so hard to get off of your skin)!



Also, besides ventilation, another reason why I love spray painting outdoors is because of the plentiful space I have to move around my canisters. I can go completely around each one of them (lids, canisters, tins, and all); and therefore each one gets an even coat of glossy black spray paint.

I hope these tips and techniques helped your spray painting endeavors; and if you have any other questions, the two articles above should be helpful!