Fish Stamp Painting {DIY}

diy fish stamp painting

Living on the coast, I’m constantly inspired by unique beach art.  Of course it’s mostly art I could never afford, but that’s why its called inspiration 😉  A few months ago, I came across this amazing piece of art at a local shop, it was a gorgeous painting of a fish.  When I inquired, it turned out that the artist actually took a (dead, eeek!) fish, dipped it in paint and then stamped it on a canvas.  Now this had me thinking…I had to try to recreate this myself!  First, let me preface by saying I am not an artist by any sense of the word, I can just barely draw a decent stick figure on a good day.  This is why a “stamp” painting appealed to me, it seemed perfect!  Except for one part, the real fish…I just could not bring myself to use a real fish.  So for weeks I searched and searched for the perfect rubber fish to use on my painting.  I finally found it when I turned into a fish store on a whim one day.  The awesome staff just so happened to have a rubber fish sitting on their register that they graciously offered up to me when I told them about my project, it was perfect!  I went home and started on my fish stamp art right away and it turned out better than I could have imagined, here’s my Fish Stamp Painting DIY…

Fish Stamp Painting {DIY}

Gather up:

one rubber fish, try ordering one online (or a real fish if your up for a challenge!)

a sheet of poster board (I chose black and blue paper for my prints)

paint (use a contrasting color to the poster board, I used white paint)

a small paint brush (for touching up spots and applying paint to the fish)

Method:

step 1 p

Set up the poster board and prepare your fish for it’s task.  This can get messy, so lay down paper to protect any surfaces.

step 2 p

Using a paint brush, apply a generouso layer of paint to one side of the fish.  Make sure to fill in all of the spots you want to appear on your print.

Flip the fish over and lay it down on the poster board.  Be careful not to drag it, this will smug the paint.

step 3 pCarefully pick the fish up off the paper.  Use your paint brush to touch up any spots that did not stick.  You’ll have to use the best of your artistic ability here ( I really had to dig deep for this one!)  Let the fish dry for a bit, then use two colors of paint (I chose black and yellow) to paint on the fish’s eye.  This is just two circles, that’s art I can handle.

Allow your fish to dry, then sit back and marvel at your work of art!  I ended up with three prints, two single fish prints on black, and one double fish print on blue.  These prints now hang proudly on either side of my fireplace 🙂

 

4 responses to “Fish Stamp Painting {DIY}

  1. So clever! Fred Mullett has a website where he has instructions on doing this technique with real ones and plastic ones. He uses embossing powders too. His stamps are very realistic and make lovely images. I think it could be done with twinkling h2os for ink on black paper with stunning effect.

  2. Pingback: How To Make Your Own Fun Fish Stamp Painting In 3 Easy Steps

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