• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Home
  • Gardening Index
  • Videos
  • Subscribe
  • Navigation Menu: Social Icons

    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • RSS
    • Twitter
    • YouTube
Garden Sanity by Pet Scribbles

Sunset Painting Technique Using Three Colors

This post and photos may contain Amazon or other affiliate links. If you purchase something through any link, I may receive a small commission at no extra charge to you. Any supplies used may be given to me free of charge, however, all projects and opinions are my own.


September 4, 2013 By Laura

Pin
Share
Post
Sunset Painting Technique using 3 colors of paint: You can create a color wash on unfinished or painted wood that has some depth with this simple technique.

Remember my 60th Anniversary Centerpiece that I made for my parents’ anniversary celebration? One of my neighbors saw my pictures of it on my Facebook page and asked me to make one for her own parents’ upcoming 50th Anniversary! The specifications included a beach theme, with something sunset-ish to go with a beautiful art canvas that will be displayed.

I played around with various ways to create a “sunset” look with paint, and came up with this technique. It isn’t the quickest way to do it, but it is easy and practically fool-proof, so I wanted to share it with you!

Sunset Painting Technique Using Three Colors

Supplies: 

  • unfinished wood craft item
  • sandpaper
  • jar with water for paint brush
  • paint brush
  • paint – three colors of your choice
  • paper towels

Steps:

Give your unfinished wood piece a light sanding to remove any rough spots. Here’s my numbers I’m using for the centerpiece:

unfinished wood numbers

Choose your three paint colors. One will be the base color, and the other two will be the colors you will layer on slowly. I chose a metallic yellow-gold as my base color.

Paint two coats of your base color and let dry thoroughly.

Put a small blob (a crafty technical term!) of each color into a small paint tray. I use plastic jar lids, explained in my post here.

Wet your paint brush by dipping it into the jar of water. You want the brush saturated but not dripping wet. Here’s a shot of my brush that might be helpful:

Now swirl the wet brush gently around into one of the paint colors, to make a watery texture.

I couldn’t take pictures of me “in action” layering on the colors, however I’ll explain this technique as best as I can, using the front of the number 5, below, as a guide.

Imagine painting a pink watery line on the left edge of the five; then paint a watery line on the top right front edge. Wait a few seconds and then wipe and blot if off with a paper towel. You will keep repeating this process, alternating your two colors that were not used as the base color.

layering on the watered-down paint colors

Take the same paint brush, swirl it around in the water jar to remove that color and dip the brush into your next color to water it down. You can see the paint colors above, and here’s a close-up shot below of my pink shade, after all of my thinning and swiping and painting.

For your second color, in my case it was orange, swipe a watery line up the front of the number 5, all the way up, then down on the lower right area. Wait a few seconds and wipe off. See how the watered down colors begin to blend in?

close-up of the watered-down paint
You can keep doing this as much or as little as you want. I used just one paper towel for both my blotting of the wet brush and the wiping off of paint. Sometimes I used the dry parts of the paper towel, and I also experimented with using the damp parts too. Each gives a slightly different effect.
Here's what the paper towel looked like when I was finished.

I kept a small amount of the base color just in case I wanted to touch up anything, but I ended up not needing it. Mistakes are impossible to make with this technique – but – let’s say you made a curved line instead of a straight one, and you wanted to correct it. Just wet your brush and begin “painting” over the spot you want to correct. The water will reactivate the paint and you’ll be able to remove some of the paint and then add back in what you’d like.

It’s honestly a fun technique because you can build up a lot of depth with your colors.

Once you’re satisfied, let your wooden piece dry thoroughly. Then spray it with a sealer.

Voilá!

50th Anniversary numbers painted with a sunset painting technique.
Sunset Painting DIY using just three colors of paint
And now to get back to the centerpiece! I’ll share it with you when it’s complete!
Create a sunset look with just three colors of paint. Simple DIY!

~Laura

Follow on Bloglovin
       The Answer Is Chocolate          Weekend Bloggy Reading
homework

Pin
Share
Post

Filed Under: Crafts & DIY Tagged With: 50th wedding anniversary, color wash technique, Craft Tutorials, DIY centerpiece, Faux Paint Technique, paint finishes, sunset paint technique

Previous Post: « In love with aqua blue Ball jars!
Next Post: 14 Unique Candles and Candle Holder DIYs »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Mary Beth

    September 15, 2013 at 3:52 am

    I love the depth of color, Laura ~ such a lovely combination. Thanks so much for sharing at this week’s Project Inspire{d}.

    • Laura / The Shed by Pet Scribbles

      September 17, 2013 at 1:13 am

      Thanks so much Mary Beth! Love your weekly party!

  2. malia

    September 24, 2013 at 12:33 pm

    It truly does have a sunset-like glow! So pretty.

Primary Sidebar


Welcome to Garden Sanity by Pet Scribbles. I’m Laura, an artist and self-taught gardener. Gardening is therapeutic for me, peaceful and calming. I write articles and film videos centered around my own gardens, with plenty of plant suggestions and gardening tips. I’m glad you’re here and happy to share my garden inspiration with you!

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

© 2025 • PET SCRIBBLES LLC • PRIVACY POLICY