Within the limits of Ponce City Market, hiding in a cozy corner on the Beltline, lies a unique little business for those that love to create. The Splatter Studio gives people a unique experience where they can explore their inner artist and create things they could only dream of. It’s certainly a unique way of painting, too. I have never heard of a place that gives you a paint cannon to help with your art, have you?
When we walked into the studio, we were met with the overwhelming smell of fresh paint, the best selection of lofi music, and a wonderful painter that gave us the rundown. We took off our shoes to keep them from getting painted, put on some plastic feet covers, a plastic poncho, and got right to the main studio. The artist explained to us how to use the supplies. First, there were two sizes of paint brushes. Nothing crazy, just your average large and small brushes. There were 4 bottles of very thin paint: white, black, silver, and copper. She told us to use these if we wanted the drip effect. She explained the “splatter” tools that were specially made for the studio. They look a lot like thick drum brushes to me. There was a large and small splatter tool at our disposal. Then, there was the paint gun. This looked like a short pool noodle with a plastic base that let you suck up the paint and shoot it out. This thing was fun but not really effective when it came to painting. Finally, we were shown the plastic tubs of paint that we could use. Some had very interesting names, like hooker green, and were easy to use. We were then given 16×20 canvases to hang on a wooden pallet and left to our creativity.
The artist only gave us one word of advice: start with a background. My fiancé and I had very different ideas as to what this meant. He took the large paintbrush and began to apply a thin coat of cyan to the canvas. I proceeded to take the runny white paint in the bottle and soak the canvas. He spent a lot of time thinking about the design and how he wanted to execute his idea. I decided i wanted a blue, purple, green color scheme and went to town with the splatter tools. I did, however, use the pain cannon once with a dark purple just to say I used it. That thing was impossible to control and actually got all over my fiancé, who luckily body blocked his canvas when I shot the paint gun. It was a fun experience. We were given an hour to paint to our hearts content and we ended up staying roughly 45 minutes.
I’m typically a shy, introverted person. I’m painfully aware of every tiny movement, sound, and facial expression I make. However, I let loose here. I didn’t care about anything except having fun with paint. I walked out of there with my hands completely covered in paint, purple streaks on my legs, the plastic poncho covered in splattered paint, and the plastic booties we wore over our socks soaked. Our canvases were placed delicately inside of a protective cardboard box with ventilation holes, which we were told to “carry like a hot pizza that has cheese sliding off.” I couldn’t help but chant “hold like pizza” the entire way to the car. It definitely brought out the messy children in us, but it was a rewarding experience. After 4 days left in the boxes to dry, they’re proudly displayed upon the walls for all to see.
There are some options at the studio I wish we could have taken advantage of, however. For example, you can switch out your canvas for a slightly larger 24×30 canvas. The downside is that there isn’t a box large enough to fix that canvas and it would have to stay at the studio for several days. Between the traffic and work, it wasn’t feasible for us to switch to a larger canvas so we just stuck with the original one. You also have the opportunity to purchase a white Splatter Studio shirt, which you can paint of course. I love customizing shirts like that but we were already struggling with managing two boxes so we decided not to add a third containing a shirt. If you live closer to the studio, I would highly recommend getting a larger canvas, a shirt, or both!
Ink and Crystals 