Over the past 2 weeks I have experimented with making my own panels and surfaces to experiment on. I wanted to try to make my own panels in order to have more flexibility on the shape and size I want them to be as well as to add paper to them. Having a paper surface will allow me flexibility with regards to the medium I want to use – whether that be charcoal, watercolour or oil paint.
Larger surfaces:
Here is some of the process of making the panels. On these larger panels aim to draw or paint figure studies in the landscape ( see reference photo’s in the next post):
Smaller surfaces:
I also started taking photographs of micro-zoomed nature studies. I wanted to draw or paint these on a smaller scale. I discovered 5 bags of parquet flooring planks that was left over after our building project (the same blocks used in my art studio). I immediately knew that they would be great as a base and with the added benefit of serving as a reference to ‘Home’. I glued 2 of them together and made my first few of them with Fabriano artistico paper glued on. Here’s a photo & video of the process:
Both the large and small surfaces has 300gms paper (already prepared with watercolour wash) glued on:
In the following photo you will see them with a final oil colour wash. Ready to be painted on:
Copper and glass surfaces:
I also prepared some copper plate and glass surfaces on which I wanted to experiment:
I enjoyed preparing my own surface because it gives me so much flexibility. I will be working on these over the next couple of weeks.