We henna artists sure like to adorn things! Painting cars makes our work a bit more permanent.
You’ll tend to see four main styles of henna-inspired car art:
Puffy Paint on Windows
This is the least permanent and most popular! This can be scraped off with a razor blade when it’s time for a new design. The most popular brand of acrylic craft paint is the old standby that can be found at almost any craft store – Tulip. Put it into a henna applicator cone, and it goes on just like henna (hence why henna artists love it so very much). Be sure to know your local vehicle window visibility laws before giving this one a go.
Permanent Markers on the Car Body
Oil-based paint markers last the best, but people have also been known to just go at it with Sharpies. Unless you add a UV-protectant clear coating once it’s done, this will fade over time.
Vehicle Wraps and Decals
For a professional look, some artists create digital versions of their work and then have it printed onto car wraps and decals.
Body Painting
If your car is 100% paid off and you’re decent with brush work, painting the body of the car with professional quality auto paints may be for you. It is the longest-lasting of all of the available options, and can be done in a wide array of colors. Be sure to strip all of the branding and other decals off of the car before painting.
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All photos are posted here in the order in which they were submitted.
Hennaed Art Car – BeHennaed
Kristianna Harris Pfaffle
Behennaed
Marquette MI
www.facebook.com/behennaed
@behennaed
Henna Style Painted Car Windows – Darlene Cyr, Henna for Morgan
Darlene Cyr
Henna for Morgan
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Henna-for-Morgan/147478892110302
Midland Michigan
Colorful Henna Style Car Window Painting – Henna Art by Penney
Penney Douglas
Henna art by Penney
US-California-San Jacinto
@g4penney
Henna Style Car Windows – Heavenly Henna by Leah
Henna Style Car Windows – Heavenly Henna by Leah
Leah McCloskey
Heavenly Henna by Leah
South Elgin, Illinois
@hennapause
Car Windows – Karyn AlZayer – Henna Inspired
Car Windows – Karyn AlZayer – Henna Inspired
Karyn Alzayer
Henna Inspired
Everett, MA
Henna Style Graphic Vehicle Wrap – WildFlowerArtist.com
Linda Krause-Maldonado
www.WildFlowerArtist.com
Gibbstown, NJ – South Jersey
Henna Art Car – HennaByHeather.com
Heather Caunt-Nulton
Henna By Heather
Between Boston, MA and Providence, RI USA
@HennaByHeather
More Henna-Style Painting Tips:
Did you find this article while searching for how to do henna-styled paintings on windows, walls, or other non-car surfaces? It seems that’s been happening a lot, so here are tips for that, also!
Can I Use Acrylic Paint Pens?
Maybe. The main issue I’ve run into with paint pens is that they need to be held vertically in order to work properly. In addition to that, I find frequently pressing down in order to keeping the paint flowing down to the tip mildly annoying. But, that said, there’s no reason acrylic paint pens wouldn’t work just as well as the oil-based ones. Just keep in mind. The reason I only mentioned oil based paint pens above is because I use them exclusively for metallic accents, as I find them to be the best option for doing so. Otherwise, I find the above noted factors annoying enough that I’d rather use anything else.
Test Before You Go All In
Whatever you do, don’t buy ALL the colors or cover ALL the surface before doing a test. Buy one color of the thing you intend to use and test on a small representative but out-of-sight corner of the surface you want to paint. Sometimes paints don’t bond to / cover over particular surfaces as well as you might’ve hoped.
Is There Anything Else People Use For Windows?
Yes. A lot of professional window painters just use tempera paint – the cheap stuff that has been used in kindergartens, daycare centers, and schools for many decades. This is a bit translucent for thin linework only, but could be used to good effect if you do the linework first in one color (either very light or very dark), and then you do a solid background behind it in another color that will provide good contrast. It will add more opacity and also just give your design work more presence and oomph.
Be sure to do a clear coat over the back of your tempera paint design, as it will scratch off if you don’t. Remember that you’re working backwards for window paintings done on the inside of the window facing out (the most sensible way to do them for protection from the weather). Do the details first, then the backgrounds.
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