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.

Mat, Fixative Or...

I currently don't frame my work with a mat or fixative.  I frame them directly against the glass.

I used to use mats, but they're a nuisance as far as I am concerned.  Cutting mats is a time-consuming pain.  I have better things to do with my time - like paint!

Despite correctly measuring and doing the math to figure out where to cut, I'd still make mistakes and wind up throwing matboard out.  It took a lot of time that I didn't have, but I couldn't afford to have a framer do it for me, so I cut them myself.  Then there was the added expense of framing with a mat, or a double mat (if I was feeling extravagant).  Mat-board, mat-cutter, blades... more linear inches of frame too, and bigger pieces of glass to cover a larger area.  Sheesh.

Now, with the pastel right against the glass there are fewer expenses: smaller sheets of glass, smaller frames, not having to buy mat-board.  Added bonuses:  They are lighter and easier to carry, and numerous people comment that they thought they were oils.

Plus they are SO much easier to frame this way!  It takes me a fraction of the time to frame them now than it did before.

Other artists have asked me about the pastel dust getting on the glass.  Yes, a tiny amount does get on the glass, HOWEVER, it will never be an issue until you unframe the painting.  And why would you want to do that?  (Well, OK, I do unframe them occasionally if I have to reuse a frame, forget to sign them, forget to photograph them or scan them.  That's how I know there is some dust left on the glass.)  But seriously, it isn't enough to worry about.  Plus the sanded Uart paper really holds onto the pastel.

I really like the way they look, too.  I figure if someone doesn't like they way they are framed, they can have a framer redo the framing for them.