All About Stenciling

I need help choosing the right paint for this project. I want a flat color background on a stretched cotton canvas, then stencil in a pattern using a glossy version of the same color. This should produce a nice effect under the right lighting. I don't even know which types of paint look good on canvas and which ones will provide the desired effect (oil, acrylic, spray paint??). Please help.

I prefer acrylic paints because they're water soluble so you don't have to buy any additional cleaners for your brushes: soap and water gets it off your hands and your brushes (and if you get there before it dries, most hard surfaces ie: your table! lol) Also they dry quickly and don't smell up your house. And you can choose your price range at any craft store. (More expensive paints will be more archival meaning they'll last longer without fading or cracking.. as in 300 years instead of just 100! lol) If you have purchased a prestreched prepared canvas you might want to get a small container of gesso and repaint the surface to make it smoother for your effect to show up completely. Otherwise it might be a little textured and you could loose some of the effect of the gloss. Then you just pick your color(s) and grab some Matte medium and some gloss medium. You can skip the gloss medium if you want, acrylic has a shine to it already, but the gloss medium will help it show up more. Just mix the medium in with the paint (it does "water it down" a bit, so you might have to do more than one coat) and you're good to go. Or you could paint the canvas whatever color you wanted and then cover it with a thin coat of matte medium. Then stencil the gloss medium where you wanted it. That way you don't worry about "watering down" your color... The other nice thing about that would be that you'd have a clear coat over the painting so it would be easy to dust/clean without worrying about affecting it. (though again, acrylic paints are really durable, so it's not going to make a big difference) Good luck with your project. It should look great!

I concur with Rach. But, would like to add: The more expensive brands have more pigment. I'd chose a good student grade like Golden. Go to an art store and buy it in tube form. Depending on the color, it will vary in cost. Should be $6-15.00. Don't buy Liquitex. (Not because they are inferior, but because sometimes their regular acrylic paints are very matt to begin with.) You will like Golden if you can get it. Its okay to use Liquitex mediums, or golden's. You will add them in to lower the viscosity of the paint (as well as to affect the surface quality)because it is too thick right out of the tube. Its okay to add some water, too, but the medium maintains the integrity of the texture. It makes it go on smooth, too. I would paint the whole thing (at least) 2 coats with Matt Medium in the paint. You may need more than one coat to get a really good coverage. Maybe more than 2...it depends on your pigment to medium ratio...but just do it as smooth as possible and dont worry if it takes more coats. The fun is in the journey, anyway. If the gloss medium painted on top is not glossy enough, paint the area with a waterbased acrylic non yellowing varnish. Also, some hues are more transparent than others and...if straight out of the tube, are impossible to get an opaque coverage. Regardless of the color, it wouldnt hurt to add at least a tad bit of titanium or zinc white (to the paint to begin with) just to increase the opacity. Again, I concur with Rach on the gesso. You can gesso then sand. Then gesso then sand...and on and on until you get a smooth surface - if you are up that much fun. But unless you airbrush, you will see brushstrokes. That's okay. That shows "the hand." (Otherwise, you might as well buy it already made.) But if you want a totally smooth surface (on which to apply a matt and gloss) then gesso/sand multiple times - and apply paint with an airbrush. Good luck. - oh, and by the way - if its not what you had in mind, you can gesso over it and start again...so just have fun.

If you are using oils: Use a turpentine solvent for the matt background and poppy oil for the desired glossy effect. The other option for the glossy effect is to sun dry linseed oil in an airtight bottle till it gets bleached and use that for a glossy effect.