clone stamp alternative?

[bartonlew]

I want to "delete" most of the graffiti in this image (not the big red graffiti at top).  I don't want to use the Clone Stamp because I'd like to preserve the existing texture in the cement wall - just getting rid of the paint on top.  I selected the white graffiti inside the yellow box in screenshot #1 using Select>Color Range and applied Curves adjustments (screenshot #2).  Screenshot #3 is a close-up of this area.  It's much improved - but the graffiti is not quite "disappeared."  Is there a way I could apply the surrounding color to the graffiti in the Curves 1 layer?  I thought about using Frequency Separation but I always find that an imperfect solution.  Thanks.  

[Trevor.Dennis · Accepted solution]

The Healing Brush and Patch Tool would do a much better job than the clone tool.  You can even stroke through that yellow outline without corrupting it.  I am sure those tools have been improved from what they used to be.

[bartonlew]

Thank you.  I had never used the Patch Tool and watched a tutorial on youtube.  It looks promising.  However, I can't use it on the Background Layer (Layer 0) or else I get the result shown below.  I guess this is because the adjustments I made previously are on the Curves 1 Layer.  Looks ike I may have to flatten the image before using the Patch Tool, is that correct?  Thanks.  

[bartonlew]

I went ahead and used the Healing Brush.  I'm not sure if the Patch Tool would have worked better, but I don't know how to apply it to a Layer which has a Curves Adjustment Layer applied to it.  Making a selection on the content Layer selected the content without the adjustment, and so I did not proceed from there - since I wanted the Patch tool to apply its adjustments based on the prior adjustments I had made.  Presumably, I need to merge the content layer and its adjustment layer before applkying the Patch tool.  Thanks for your suggestions.  

[Chris 486]

For me the Spot healing brush was a home run for this job. Once you get the grafitti removed you can retouch the wall texture to match extactly how you want. Good luck!

[Leslie Moak Murray]

I like the Content-Aware fill. I use it all the time.