Creative Spark Plug: Stamping with Paint
We can often feel like we need to be in the mood to be creative, and when we’re not in the mood, we may give up quickly or not even try at all. But we can employ a number of quick and easy techniques to get ourselves making and creating and to get our hands moving. Breaking out some paint and some simple objects can give us the opportunity to make marks and explore different possibilities. Now we can make marks in lots of different ways, but let’s limit it to stamping.
So, let’s see what kind of creative possibilities we can explore with some paint and some simple objects.
What you need:
Paint—You can use any kind of paint, but watercolor is probably the quickest and easiest. But this will work with acrylic as well.
Brushes—Though you may not be using the brushes to apply the paint directly to your surface, you will need a way to get the paint onto the object, and often the best way is with a brush.
Objects to Stamp—You need a variety of objects that you can apply the paint to and stamp with, so pick things that you don’t mind getting paint on. You can use premade rubber stamps, especially with acrylic, but I love using objects and materials that were not originally made for art making. Here are some of my favorites:
Bubble Wrap. I love the repeated pattern that this packing material makes when used in stamping.
Plastic containers and lids. I’ve collected a variety of plastic food containers, bottle caps, and glue stick caps. These are things that would normally get thrown away or recycled.
Sponges. I love the textures that you can get with sponges.
You can really use anything that you can put paint on and then press onto your surface, and if you don’t mind getting it messy, that’s even better.
Substrate—You need some type of paper, canvas, or board to stamp on. I love doing this in my visual journal as a way to add color and texture to pages, but you can also do this on blank, loose paper. If you’re using acrylic paint, you can stamp onto canvas, cardboard, or some other surface.
The Process:
The process is pretty simple. Brush paint onto the object, and then press it onto your substrate. you may need to experiment a little with how much paint you put on to get the best results, but that’s part of the creative fun. With circular objects like lids and caps, you may want to twist the object slightly back and forth as you stamp, especially if using watercolor paint. And speaking of watercolor paint, because of its watery nature, it can be a little difficult to work with and can run and bleed. But again that can be part of the fun as you figure out how to best use it.
I like to build up layers with the things that I stamp, and I often brush a little water over the stamped marks to soften the marks and spread some of the paint. But experiment and see what you can do with some paint and some basic objects to stamp with!
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Happy Creating!
Eric
This is exactly what I want to do today! Thank you Eric