SUPPLIES & PREP
- White acrylic paint (I used Artist’s Loft flow acrylic from Michaels)
- Dish Soap to help the paint stick (ONE drop only – or else it starts creating a pattern)
- Masking Tape around the window
- Sketched out design (stay away from direct center, too straight or too many trees)
- Sponge rollers (up to 4″) and Sponge brushes
- Soft brushes
- Paper towels
- Stencils of deer and leaves
- Clean windows or you’ll encounter random problems
- Temperatures within 60 – 90 degrees F or the paint won’t stick
HOW TO WINDOW PAINT BIRCH SCENE
All prepped? Then let’s get started!
TIPS: Leave more space in front of the deer so it feels like he has room to move forward in the trees. And direct the deer in the direction you want people to look next.
First, we pour our white paint in our rolling pan with a drop of dish soap and mix gently. Tape up your deer stencils where you want them.
Sponge in the deer stencil, let dry and add another layer of paint. Wait 5 minutes before removing the stencil to avoid smearing the clean stencil edges.
Starting the birch trees, roll paint from the bottom to the top of window with end point in mind so you can add some bends every 1- 4 feet.
The bottom of the trunk will be thicker so go back to the bottom and refine your tree trunk.
Let each layer DRY before adding another layer. TWO layers is recommended minimum. Too thick of paint will peel off so keep it under 4 layers. Snow piled on the bottom of the trees is fun to add while you wait.
After all the birch trees are laid out, we take the med/large soft brush and draw whimsical branches coming off the bends of the top half of the trees.
Now take a paper towel and use your finger or a plastic window scraper to remove fuzzy edges and refine your trees!
Add varying lengths of flowing branches from the top of the window for leaves. Wait to dry before adding leaves. You can use a brush, your fingers or roll on a leaf stencil to make tear-drop shaped leaves from flowing branches.
After everything is dry, use the wooden back end of the sponge brush like a pencil to remove paint.
Keep a pattern in mind so your eye moves around and not in a line, step back for the big picture. For example, the tree knots are alternating high and low.
Then use long oval motions for the horizontal pattern on the birch tree edges. Use photo references of birch trees to make yours even more original.
Roll on snowflake stencils to complete a classy winter window.
Be sure to share your windows with me!
P.S. We used one color on purpose. If you want more colors, use a white base or mix a paint brush of white into each color. The color acrylics are transparent and loose their vibrancy on windows. EXCEPTION: No need to add white to black paint.
