With spraying, tiny dots of paint create a texture ranging from solid color to a faint mist. Spurts of spray can create soft edged spots; the artist can spray gesturally to create a sense of movement and leave a record of action, or stencils can be used to mask off parts of the painting that will not be sprayed.

Very fine airbrush spraying can almost hide the action of spraying, because the dots of paint can be very small, allowing soft transitions from one value/color to the next. Airbrush can be used to finely indicate transitions from light to dark when rendering form. Less controlled spray paint cans leave clear evidence of the technique, and can be used to reflect an affiliation with, or at least a nod to graffiti culture.

Featured: Bird Wandering Off by Paul Klee.