Sunday, June 28, 2020

1213 Peonies, 8x10 oil on wood panel

I've been completing paintings that I started and set aside a ways back. This one I painted in a grisaille last year and only just now added color.
There's some that I started many years ago and forgot about completely.

The thing is that I"m getting low on panels so I've been going through old paintings considering painting over them.

Anyway, I just had 151 panels cut from some 1/4inch baltic birch plywood. I spent a few days sanding it smooth (My shoulder is now paining me). As soon as the weather gets nice I'll seal them and put a few layers of traditional gesso on the front. This process takes several days but the finished product results in the most exquisite painting surface. Silky smooth and perfect for applying egg tempera. Here's what 151 baltic birch panels looks like:
I will seal all sides with warm Rabbit Skin Glue and then apply a traditional gesso that i make with rabbit skin glue and calcium carbonate (Marble dust). Then I sand it smooth with wet ultra fine sand paper or I scrape it with a blade. The result is amazing. There is no painting panel I could buy at any price that compares with the quality of the ones I make the traditional way. After I finish the painting and write the date, title, and conservation information on the back I I seal it with shellac to keep atmospheric moisture from causing warping over the years.

151 panels should last me about a year.  Plus I do the odd large painting on stretched canvas. 

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