How to Paint an Eye on a Concrete Statue

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Things You'll Need

  • Garden hose

  • Water

  • Fine paintbrush

  • Latex base coat

  • Exterior black paint

  • Paper towels

  • Exterior light brown paint

  • Exterior concrete sealer

Paint your concrete statue like the Greeks painted their statues.

Painted statues date to the ancient Greeks and Romans. Though the statues in museums today are bare, in antiquity the statues were painted using bright colors and with gold and silver inlays. Over time, most of the painted statues have become monochromatic, or plain. If you choose statuary for your garden or home, you can paint it yourself with a few simple tools. To paint an eye on a concrete statue, start by purchasing latex paint.

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Step 1

Clean your concrete statue outside with a hose. Spray water gently all over your statue, without soap. Allow it to completely dry for 24 hours.

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Step 2

Brush on a latex base coat over the eye area of your statue with a fine paintbrush. You may need to purchase a fine brush from an art store, rather than the hardware store, to paint with fine detail.

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Step 3

Wash your brush with soap and water to remove the base coat paint. Allow your brush and statue to dry for 24 hours.

Step 4

Dip your fine paintbrush into black exterior latex paint. Brush on some paper towels to be sure you do not have too much paint on the brush. Paint a circle in the center of the eye. Repeat for the other eye. Wait several hours and add another coat of black in the center of both eyes.

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Step 5

Wash your brush with soapy water. Dry the brush with a paper towel. Dip the brush into light brown paint, and paint on a paper towel first, to be sure you do not have too much paint on the brush. Paint the line around the edge of the eye. Repeat with the other eye. Allow the eyes to dry for 24 hours.

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Step 6

Seal the painted eyes with exterior concrete sealer using your paintbrush. Allow it to dry completely before moving your statue into place.

Tip

Experiment with different eye colors for your statue. You may try blue, hazel or green using the same method, and add a black pupil in the center of a color eye.

You may also paint the entire statue in the colors of your choice.

Warning

If you place your statue outside, you may need to touch up your statue's painted eyes after a year, depending on how much sun it gets.

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