I have a room to paint that is 30’ X 40’ with 10’ walls. Want to paint the ceiling and walls to look like the sky with clouds. I have held up blue paint chips to the sky but none seem to come close. Any suggestions on what blue to use? I know it looks different on different days. Paint the clouds with a paint sprayer? Any tips, tricks or suggestions? Thanks…
Posted by Suelynn Sedor (Member # 442) on :
Hi John,
I painted a sky in my daughters bedroom years ago and it was pretty cool. I started with a bright blue in the centre of the ceiling and worked my way towards the outside corners and down the walls. I kept adding white to the blue and the sky faded away towards the bottom of the walls. I added clouds with sponges...start out with thin washes of blue/grey/white, then add thicker blobs of almost pure white to really make them pop.
It would probably blend easier with a sprayer, but the roller worked fime for me.
Suelynn
Posted by John Arnott (Member # 215) on :
John, Spray it with latex house paint and an airless gun. Mix up some artist acrylic, cobalt blue and white first. (Just like a real painting) Then match up in latex to the darkest color and keep adding white as you go down. Now the clouds, shadows and suttle changes in colors (yellow ocre, alizarin crimson, etc.)are up to the "Artist" Enjoy John Arnott
P.S. Love my Webber. . . . .
[ April 28, 2005, 11:14 AM: Message edited by: John Arnott ]
Posted by Dale Manor (Member # 4858) on :
Howdy,
I usually start out with a medium blue color like light blue.
Then mix white into the light blue and spray blend up a ways from the horizon line.
Then I mist a bit of Brilliant blue from the top down a ways.
Clouds have a bit of a light gray shadow under them in order to pop the white color.
And spray equipment is really the only good way to do sky blends...
good luck
[ April 28, 2005, 12:45 PM: Message edited by: Dale Manor ]
Posted by John Weber (Member # 226) on :
Sherwin Williams has a paint sprayer that I can use but I don’t think you can blend with it. I was thinking of painting the whole room blue then coming back with an automotive type spray gun with the white. Starting at the bottom with the white and blend it into the blue. Like fade it away into the blue. I was also thinking of spraying the clouds but I’m having second thoughts about that. Thanks for the help.
Posted by Doug Fielder (Member # 803) on :
I have had good luck tearing newspaper to irregular shapes and using them as masks and airbrush the whites and grays to make realistic clouds. Indoors I like to use createx airbrush paints, a lot less toxic than the 1 Shot.
Posted by Arvil Shep' Shepherd (Member # 2030) on :
This is how I recently did a room.....One color Blue and blended white while the Blue was still wet...all Latex...
This is a "Bonus Room" over a Garage...about 12' ceilings......a Boys Play Room..The two boys are in the Baloon...and their Dog is hanging from the rope.... Shep'
Posted by John Weber (Member # 226) on :
Wow, both of those pictures look nice. Arvil, Do you remember what color blue you used? When I look at the color chips, nothing really looks right to me. Also, what method did you use to put the clouds on? I plan on spraying the primer on this weekend and paint the first of next week. Thanks a million, John
Posted by James Donahue (Member # 3624) on :
John, I would be very careful about trying to do what I call a "mechanical" blend. It will probably end up blotchy and uneven. My best blends are what I call "bench blends", that is, the color is mixed in steps on the bench, then sprayed (or whatever ) onto the surface.
From my observations, the blue of the sky leans more toward purple, like the pigments used for brilliant blue, rather than the ones used for say process blue. Of course, it will be more tertiary (muddy, made with all three primary colors). I would start with something that looks like brilliant blue, then carefull add small amounts of orange (opposite on the color wheel), till it was dull enough (chroma measurement), then add white till it was light enough (value measurement).
Posted by Patrick Whatley (Member # 2008) on :
You can blend with the airless sprayer just fine if you do it slowly. The onlyt problem with "slowly" and "ceiling" is that you're gonna be wearing half the paint.
Posted by Sheila Ferrell (Member # 3741) on :
I have done several ceilings and just painted the ceiling a bright sky blue . . .and used my paint-gun to spray realistic looking clouds . . .also did an 'opening' on a ceiling, which had a painted frame around it, and just used regular white spray cans on that.
If doing walls too, I would have the horizon line very bright white fading into the light blue sky...
(Sorry I can't show pics
A Caution on: Sherwin Williams (and probably others, ANY 'illuminate' bright series of latex wall and ceiling paints which contain flourescents. I was working in a little boys room where they used the light blue version of this paint on the ceiling and no matter what white I used , the clouds looked grey against that very bright paint due to the 'illuminating' qualities of it. I had to get white illuminating paint to make the clouds look white.
I like the way the spray gun makes the clouds 'trail-off as they often do in the sky.
Get some wide butcher paper and practice painting your background fades and 'experiencing' the paint your using. And then practice the cloud patterns you like. It's a cheap & fast way to practice and set your gun and know the affect your after . . .
Another tip: (mostly for oil-based painting, since I hardly ever work with latex)
If your going to spray fade the entire background and clouds, you must mask off EVERYTHING in that room that you do not want paint over-spray to land on: Doors, hinges, knobs, AC vent, floor, windows/frames/light fixtures, whatever.
You will be amazed at how fast the room fills up with over-spray. Wear a good mask and work as fast as possible, creating good stopping points to leave the room and get a break if needed.
Cover as much of yourself as you can, at some conveinient point, vaseline your eyelashes, eyebrows and any other place where overpsray could be hard to remove . . .
Keep the door closed, open the windows and remove the window screens. It only takes a few minutes to tape-up the outside of the window frames with newspaper as overspray will float out there and get on stuff...move chairs ect, that might be right outside that window.
As soon as all the painting is complete, set a fan in the furtherest corner facing the open window to help blow-out the fumes and remaining overspray . . .also, getting up all the masking, paper, ect will help eliminate some fumes as well.
People just seem to freak-out over the smell and I prefer to do this work when they are not around and during a time of the year (like spring or fall) when the room can be allowed to vent for as long as possible.
GOOD LUCK and don't forget to HAVE FUN!! Posted by John Weber (Member # 226) on :
I sincerely appreciate all the advice. I’m going to paint next week. Carpet is coming in 2 weeks and it should be completely finished in 3 weeks. I will post some pictures when I get it done. Again, Thanks, John
Posted by Sid Besserman (Member # 5502) on :
John, I used an interior paint from Home Depot, maybe it was "Bear" company. The color was a light blue that was close to the sky color called "Cassanova". You can pounce on the white clouds with a lambs wool pad. Add a little dark to the bottom of the clouds to give that clud ceiling effect.
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