Friday, March 4, 2016

Grounds

What you paint on is as important as what you paint with.

Acrylic

Acrylic paint will stick on virtually any surface.  I’ve found that the best surface is prepared with an acrylic gesso.  I’m in the habit of gessoing pre-gessoed board and canvases.

Painting commercially purchased acrylic paint on YUPO is a fingerprinting experience.  The drying time in an apartment in Chicago can go to months, sadly the work ability is only a few minutes at best.

Painting commercially purchased acrylic paint on TerraSkin is similar to Yupo.

Watercolor and Gouache

My favorite is a traditionally finished panel, rabbit skin glue and marble dust sanded before painting, but that’s an undertaking.

300# watercolor paper is wonderful, but an expensive experience

Commercially available panels, Aquaboard is nice and in the same price range as 300# paper

140# watercolor paper in blocks is my go-to carry along paper

IMHO everything else is trash.  Paper less than 140# is for light washes, and drier washes only.  I carry a Moleskine watercolor notebook it will accept a dry light wash built up over time.  If you wish to get on with it, watercolor blocks are the way to go,

If you do only studio work by yourself, you can use a hair dryer on your paper.  In my case I’m either outside, or working in a shared studio space which makes the hair dryer a no-no.

My favorite paper is 140# Fabriano hot press extra white paper on 9” by 12” blocks.  Later on look for the post on paper size and frame sizes that may be helpful.

I am learning to draw using silverpoint. The traditional board and Gum Arabic panel are preferred grounds, closely followed by Golden’s acrylic ground.  I’m still experimenting with Gum Arabic panels and cannot comment on their quality.  The blogs say it’s wonderful, my tests have not panned out yet, but look promising.

I’m experimenting with Gum Arabic tinted with Titanium White, another way of saying white watercolor or gouache, on a panel.  It does not work well on paper because it is so strong it curls the paper off the glued block.

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