Velvet Painting Artist Guide

Now that you have a velvet panel it’s time to paint something great/weird/beautiful on it! For this exhibition, we’re asking artists to create an original painting loosely inspired by the vintage velvet paintings that were popular in the 1950s and ’60s. Everyone gets the same surface, but it will be fun to see how everyone interprets the medium to their own personal styles!

 

Since velvet behaves differently than canvas, this guide will help outline some basics below. But first, a few TLDR tips:

  • Use the velvet itself as your darkest value so it becomes a key part of your finished art
  • Bright and highly saturated colors tend to pop and work well in this style
  • Use a light touch and build up thin layers of color gradually
  • Dry brushing light color over the dark background can give you grays, rather than mixing a gray color and painting it on (think tattooing on skin)
  • Avoid too much water and use thicker paint so the liquid doesn't absorb
  • TEST first- test brush strokes and colors and layering on your scrap fabric!

 

Artist: Regalado

 

Plan your design

Choose a high-contrast image

Velvet painting works especially well with designs that have strong lights and darks rather than lots of subtle, low-contrast shading. You can paint something detailed, but a design a composition blocking out clear shapes, identifying highlights and what areas can remain unpainted velvet.

Transfer your design

Option 1: Sketch on the velvet directly with light chalk marks
This one is pretty self-explanatory, just make sure to keep the chalk light so it doesn't interfere with the paint.

Option 2: The pin-prick and chalk dust method

  • Draw your design on a sheet of paper at the same size as your panel and how you want it to appear
  • Use a pin, needle, or sharp pencil to make small holes along the important lines of your drawing
  • Place your holey (holed?) drawing on the velvet panel in the correct position and lightly dab or brush chalk dust over the holes. The chalk will leave behind a dotted outline of your design on the velvet, you can connect the dots with a light chalk line if needed

 

Paint!

Plan in layers

  • Start by establishing major shapes and large areas of color
  • Build up your light areas using thin layers. If you want a color to glow or pop more, you could paint a base coat of white/light underneath before adding the colors
  • Fine lines, highlights, texture, and other small details should generally come toward the end
  • Don't panic if the first layer looks weird, velvet painting is a process of building up contrast and color, so that's all normal

Dry brushing

Dry brushing is a huge component to the look and feel of velvet paintings. Rather than painting grays or transitions of color, try a stiff brush with minimal thick paint (wipe off your brush before applying) and barely touch the surface to create the feel of a gradient. Dry brushing can also be used to add texture and highlights. This is a good thing to test on scrap first!

Make the black velvet be your darkest area

The beautiful and fun thing about these paintings is how they lean into the dark color and only add minimal highlights to create a composition! Any dark areas can be left fully unpainted or mostly unpainted with a dry brush technique.

Underpainting in white

If, for example, you're painting a bright red flower directly onto black velvet, you may need several layers before the red becomes truly vibrant. Instead, you could underpaint the area in white (or a light color) first, and once dry, add your red color on top. You don't necessarily need to underpaint the entire object. You can use white/light strategically in the areas where you want the color to be brightest.

Different colors will behave differently on the black surface. Some colors will appear vibrant immediately, while others may look dark or muted. If a color isn't popping the way you want, try adding a light undercolor rather than adding a huge amount of more paint. A thin layer of bright color over a light undercolor can be much more luminous than a thick layer of that same color directly on black.

Getting details

Small details are possible on velvet, but they require a slightly different approach than painting on a smooth surface.

  • Use a good, sharp, stiff brush
  • Use less paint, too much paint can spread and lose its shape
  • Build detail gradually
  • Not everything needs to be sharply defined, let some areas stay soft or disappear into the black

 

 

Some more resources

 

Artist: Juan (this one is for sale)

 

Returning your panel

  • Return your panel to Freehand by October 19th for hanging in the shop gallery! If you need a little more time, let us know to block out a space for you on the gallery wall
  • Be sure to write your Name and the year on the back of the panel
  • Art will hang through November (and let's be honest, prob some or all of December)
  • If you choose to list your art available for sale, you would have full control over the price that's set, just take into account our 25% gallery commission fee would come out of that number. Happy to offer guidance on setting prices if anyone wants to talk through it

 

Thanks to everyone participating! We plan to make this an annual event, and thanks for bearing with us for this first one as we figure things out along the way. Love you, bye.

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