Since Painting with Bob Ross is highly rated on Netflix, it may be safe to assume that painting as a form of stress relief and relaxation is on the rise, or at least that it’s a popular past time. You don’t need fancy tools, high dollar paints, or even a creative bone in your body to enjoy painting, or make interesting art. In fact, a lot of interesting effects can be achieved with paint and products that you may have lying around the house.

A few tips before you start:

· You can combine any of these methods on a single canvas, you aren’t limited to just one

· You can experiment with using different kinds of paint, and blending your own colors

· Acrylic paint can be used in place of watercolor for these methods if you mix it with water

· Put down newspaper to make clean up easier

Step 1: Method 1: Cotton Ball

The cotton ball method is ideal for creating all kinds of splatter marks on canvas.

Materials needed:

Canvas
Watercolor Palette
Cup of Water
Cotton Ball(s)

Steps:

1. Dip the cotton ball into the water, squeeze just a little off onto the palette you’re using

2. Put the wet cotton ball directly onto the water color palette

3. Push the cotton ball into the palette and wiggle it around; you should be able to see the paint getting absorbed into the cotton

4. Pinch the top of the cotton ball to move it

5. Aim at the canvas

Now, you have several options:

· Drop the cotton ball straight onto the canvas; the splatters you get from this are generally even around where the ball lands, like the sun’s corona

· Squeeze the paint out; the splatters produced by squeezing are generally rounder and more bubble-like

· Throw the cotton ball; the splatters produced by throwing are more violent and tend to spray out away from the force of impact

Step 2: Method 2: Q-tips

The Q-tip method is best for creating a negative-space words and/or shapes on water colors.

Materials needed:

Canvas
Watercolor Palette
Cup of Water
Q-tip(s)

Steps:

1. Paint the backdrop that you want with water colors

2. While the paint is still wet, use a dry Q-tip to draw

3. Move slowly and deliberately; making sure you give the cotton tip time to absorb the excess watercolor

Step 3: Method 3: Bubble Wrap

The bubble wrap method makes a great polka-dotted background or texture on canvas.

Materials needed:

Canvas
Acrylic Paint
Paint Brush
Bubble Wrap

Steps:

1. Coat the bubble wrap with acrylic paint; you can brush it on with a paintbrush, or dip the bubble wrap directly into the paint

2. Apply the paint-coated bubble wrap to the canvas

3. Gently peel away the bubble wrap directly away from the canvas to avoid smearing

Tips:

· Brushing the paint on will give you lighter dots with more space, while dipping the bubble wrap into the paint with make the dots appear closer together

· Apply differing amounts of pressure and paint to different areas of the bubble wrap to create a more dappled effect