Clicky

THAT PainterLady.com » Paint an Underwater Mural

Archive for the Paint an Underwater Mural Category

Jul 23 2007

Underwater Mural Technique Ideas | Lesson 2

Posted by: THAT Painter Lady in Paint an Underwater Mural, Painting Techniques

Yesterday, I was hunting for other sites that also listed instructions for painting an Underwater Mural. I found this one: 

How To Underwater Mural Technique

I hope when you check it out … a ton of good ideas are offered there.  

That underwater technique is different than mine in some aspects. But… it is always a good idea to gather ideas and technical info from a variety of outlets.  You will have better luck with the end results if you know different techniques to tackle the same project.

Underwater Characters

This site has some very cute underwater characters in the mural.  I got some great new ideas to put into my bag of tricks. 

Underwater Mural Lesson 2

Lesson 1

My favorite way to paint the water portion of an Underwater Mural is also the best way to paint a sky background.

If you can master this technique… Ocean Style Murals and Cloudy Sky Style Murals will be quick and easy to accomplish.

  • Step 1 : Paint the entire wall blue.
  • Step 2: Glaze the entire wall with blue.  

In a nutshell, that's it! 

So… now I will give you the essential tricks of the trade :) to achieve these results.

   Supplies:

  • Latex Paint - Eggshell or satin - Baby or Powder Blue
  • Purchase enough to actually paint the walls.
  • Glazing Medium - Big jug or can from the big box store
  •  Thalo Blue Paint Tinting Liquid from the big box hardware store
  • Chip Brush - From the big box hardware store- Cheap and disposable
  • Water/Rags/Drop cloth/Tape etc.
  • Woolie Pad - From Home Depot or order online here:
 
The Technique:
 
  • The entire wall must be painted in the baby or powder blue color.  This base coat color must not be skipped.  This technique looks terrible over a white background.

    •  The chip brush is used for two reasons. 
    1. You just can't get close to the ceiling or baseboards with a Woolie Pad so I use a chip brush to cut into these areas… blending very carefully.
    2. I need a tool to get the blue glaze applied to the Woolie because if you just dip the pad into the glaze, it will soak up to much liquid.
  • The Woolie Pad is used because the technique requires long horizontal strokes that can't be accomplished with just a brush. Also, the Woolie Pad makes painting sky or water murals easier on textured walls.

  • The ratio of glazing liquid to blue tint is not an exact science.  I will give you a formula so you know it must be mixed very strong.  This is to get the desired intensity… as the glazing liquid is transparent.  (… and no, this technique will not work with just dark blue paint… so don't try it!) :)

    1. The formula for the glaze is - 6 parts glaze to 1 part blue tint.
  • The paint is "glided" on in horizontal (left to right) strokes.  More glaze (intensity) is applied as you work your way down the wall.
  •  I keep a dish of clear glaze and a spray bottle of water nearby.  I can work the horizontal striations (what looks like brush strokes) out of the painting as I go.
  • Remember to work with a damp Woolie Pad.  Always spritz the pad with water and work it into the wool before you start painting. And… keep that pad damp. If you have to walk away from the work area, slip the pad into a plastic bag.  The tips of the wool pad can dry and then all the softy goodness is gone. :)

    • This mural is gorgeous. Click on the picture and check out this mural-wallpaper site for some excellent ideas.

    Underwater Mural

    Technorati Tags: Underwater Mural, Paint, Faux, Woolie, Wool Pad, Lesson

    Comments 2 Comments »

    Jan 20 2007

    Underwater Mural | How to Project

    Posted by: THAT Painter Lady in Paint an Underwater Mural, Painting Advice, Painting Techniques, Painting Tools and Books

    Okay…so you have this really cute idea! Painting a faux ocean or an underwater mural with fish and coral for the bath…or maybe in the new baby room.  How cute is that?

    Now… do you need to hire a professional Mural Painter to create this one of a kind Underwater Mural for your home?  Maybe…but you could try it yourself.  It isn't difficult when you break down the steps to get beautiful results. 

    Over the years, I have painted so many underwater style murals…I think I get seasick just thinking about them.  I did find that they can be time consuming and I needed to speed up the process.  I still wanted to provide quality work to my customers, with each project having a one of a kind "feel". So how did I accomplish this technique?  I thought you would never ask.  ;)

    The first step in creating an underwater mural will use the gradient technique (I taught this in a previous article…go check out instructions for blending paint colors.

    The water (colors) must be blended onto the wall.  So…what type and color of paint is already on your wall???   Is it white (off-white is okay) or baby blue?  Is it satin or eggshell ( semi-gloss for bathrooms)?  If not… you have some work to do.  Is your wall textured?  This paint finish will work on a textured wall…but it will take some extra work to get a perfect water effect.

    Underwater Mural - Two Ways to Get Water Effects

    1.  Use latex house paints.  This allows for quick dry time… so you can get started on the rest of the mural. 

    Materials:

    • Paint - I am not going into qty..or even specific colors here.  Qty would be based on the size of the room and paint coverage.  Colors are NOT sky blue.  Choose marine blue - like the color of blue tarps for boats.  That will be your darkest blue color.  The blue should be enough to cover 2/3 of your room -give or take.  Then your going to need white… at least enough to cover 1/3 of the room.
    • 1" or 1 1/2" Chip Brush and a 1/2"  artist brush
    • Mini Paint Roller
    • Extra  cubs or cans to mix paint and a mixing stick

    The top 5" -8" (to taste - like salting your food :))  Paint almost pure white.  Mix in a touch of blue to some of the white and paint this "stripe".  The next layer that blends in is a mixture of more blue with the white.  And so on until you have the deepest blue without any white added on your wall.  I like to have this pure blue almost 2/3 of the way up the wall. 

    The effect you are trying to achieve is that deep water gets darker towards the bottom. 

    This isn't my favorite way of painting water…but it is pretty easy to get a pretty result.

    You can see by the image on the left…that the color is never baby blue.  It is always a marine blue.  If you find when you add white to the blue paint, you are getting a baby color…you got the wrong blue. 

    The next underwater mural painting technique is really cool.  It sounds and looks much harder than it is.  If you master this technique you will be using for many other types of murals…not just the underwater mural.

    Lesson 2 

     Technorati Tags: Debra Conrad, Painter Lady, Underwater Mural, Paint Fish, Paint Water

    Comments 4 Comments »