PAINTING WOOD GRAIN

My two favorite paint brushes are the push broom, and the corn/straw- type broom (natural bristle). Lay down a base wood color (a light color) and either use a semi-gloss, or use scenic paint and add something like Rosco Clear Acrylic to it. When you have the base coat dry, you want a bit of sheen and smoothness to it.

Next, mix up a glaze of a darker wood tone, again, using some clear acrylic gloss in it. I then use a soft, clean paint pad to apply a stripe of the darker brown over the base color. Then I drag the straw broom with a long, even, and STRAIGHT stroke - removing some of the dark brown color off the lighter base. It looks great. (This technique can also be used on walls, when doing paneling.)