Hand-made Ground

"Sultry Summer" - pastel, 8x10

I guess it's because it's been so cold recently that I began to think of summer.  I was thinking about the hot, humid evenings in late summer when the weeds are tall and full of color and the thickness of the atmosphere makes distant trees look blue due to the humidity.  I love this time of year, except of course, that it means that soon winter will be upon us.  Sigh.

I'm getting off track.

I wanted to discuss the ground this is painted on.  

I usually paint on a sanded paper such as Uart or Wallis paper.  But I really admire the work of artists who can make their own surface to work on.  I like the stability of using some kind of board instead of a piece of paper.  So I decided to experiment a little.  I cut an 8" x 10" piece of Foam Core, left over from framing, and covered it with a layer of Golden's Gel Medium containing fine pumice.  The pumice creates a nice surface to paint on.  It's a bit more course than the Uart I normally use, but as it dried, it left the brush strokes in the gel and they show up in the painting, adding dimension to the piece.  

I also toned the board with a layer of color which I liquefied with alcohol, then let dry before painting.  The color of the under-painting was yellow at the top, magenta in the middle and deep blue near the bottom.

I believe this experiment was a success.  The painting came out well.  However, I am not sure of the archivalness of the foam core.  I think I will need to research that a bit more.