Explore acrylic spray painting techniques

Spray paints have been around for quite a while now and have become associated with graffiti artists. Love it or hate it, graffiti art is finding its way into the art galleries and on penthouse walls, commanding high prices and is highly regarded as an art form.

I’m using spray paints more and more in my work, combining them with other medium on paper, which is then framed under glass. I find the immediacy of the medium very compelling and the way in which flat colour can be applied on a variety of supports and surfaces, with blends that merge one into the other, really exciting.

Acrylic spray paints dry matt and flat. This means that other media can be very easily worked over spray-painted areas. One of my favourite combinations with acrylic spray paints and other media is soft pastel.

The paints

Acrylic spray paint cans have different nozzles that create different effects. Each brand has their own unique effect but I have found that many nozzles are interchangeable, which is a very useful thing. They are colour coded for the effect you want to achieve – thin, thick, spatter and so