Painting Technique Inspired by Junk Mail

Inspired by junk mail?

The latest thing at the moment is high definition TV. The Sky satellite company is really pushing the advertising.

It is quite an interesting problem for them. How can they convey the wonderful new picture when we only have the old technology to view it on?

The actual TV ads have lovely bright colours moving around in fluid shapes. But they still have the problem with printed ads.

Copy this idea

I received an advert in the mail last week and thought it was inspired.
This was a master class in paint finishes!

They used still photos from the TV ads but the printed version was in a matt finish (and on very thick paper to give a feeling of luxury!). They selected a few sections to highlight using a gloss finish. There were very few of these gloss areas and this helped to maximize the impact.

The contrast between the matt and the gloss was lovely. Very eye catching.

It was what we are all trying to achieve, A Wow Moment!

How to Use This Idea

You could use this with your own artwork, especially if you are painting abstracts using acrylic paints. You can get a free report on how to do this by clicking on the link in this blog!!

To make the final picture matt you could paint it with matt acrylic varnish (I use the kind for painting interior woodwork) or you could cover it with a matt acrylic medium. Then once the matt finish is dried select a few areas to highlight with the gloss (varnish or medium).

If you try this and don’t like the effect you can repaint the glossed sections with the matt varnish and have another try with the gloss, choosing different areas.

The final painting will have a lot of interest when displayed because the different light levels throughout the day will change how it looks. Also the surface will appear to vary depending on the angle you are viewing it from.

This is a simple way to get a very special effect.