Julie T. Chapman - ArtBlog

Someone recently asked how I go about preparing my support for a painting - so herewith, I’m inflicting this on all of you…

If I want to paint on a canvas panel:

1. Cut a piece of MDF (from Home Depot) to size
2. Glue army duck (a smoother, tighter weave of cotton duck) to the MDF with Lineco Archival adhesive (pour on glue, spread it out evenly with a wall scraper, lay panel on sticky canvas, turn it over, run a brayer over the whole canvas surface several times)
3. Weight glued panel under boards and heavy boxes overnight
4. Apply first coat of Daniel Smith white gesso, let dry
5. Sand lightly with one of those handy sanding pads from Home Depot
6. Apply second coat of gesso, dry, and sand

If I’m painting on a stretched canvas, then I just do steps 4 - 6. After all that, it’s time to draw the composition on with vine charcoal; this step can take a while to get right. Once the charcoal outline is done, I spray fix it.

Recently, I’ve started texturing the prepared panel with acrylic modeling paste, if I want a surface that already has some movement to it. It’s loads of fun to paint on, and makes me lather on oils more freely for some reason.

After all the acrylic steps are finished, I then do an underwash of very thin oils to tone the whole shebang.

So why a panel vs stretched canvas? I much prefer the harder surface of a panel for palette-knife paint application, but the MDF-based panels get really heavy over a certain size…plus, they’re only readily available in 2′x4′ sheets. Thus, if I’m considering a 30×40 or similar, it’s gotta be a stretched canvas.

On a lighter note, it struck me recently how many art supplies I get at Home Depot, and I’m amused to share that list here:

• odorless mineral spirits (at a fraction of the price at an art-supply store)
• razor blades in the zillion-pack (great for scraping off the glass palette)
• MDF boards (what I mount my canvas on for painting)
• wall scrapers (I use a large one for spreading glue on a canvas before mounting it to the MDF panel, and a smaller one for applying molding paste when I want to texture a canvas)
• housepaint brushes (for applying gesso)
• latex gloves

…too bad I can’t get quarts of Gamblin paint for the price of a quart of Behr!

A quick note on good stuff y’all may or may not know about.

If you ever had the chance to experience the secret-formula Ritmo charcoal pencils, you know how creamy and gorgeously black they were. Ritmo stopped making these several (3? 5?) years ago, and it’s rumored that Disney immediately went out and scoured the world to buy up whatever was left.

Since then, General Pencil Company has managed to come up with its own formula that’s damn close. I’ve bought several packages of these things, called “Primo” (and even labeled with lettering that is no doubt intentionally reminiscent of “Ritmo”) and I LOVE ‘em. They’re sold only in a 4-pack, with B, HB, 3B, and a white pencil and an eraser. Doesn’t matter - all 3 of the charcoals are insanely black and wonderful. In fact, I’ve done a totally scientific side-by-side comparison* with my few remaining Ritmo pencils, and I actually like the Primos better. (*I used a Primo, then a Ritmo).

Also cool: the eraser in the pack - a weird black thing with “Factis” printed on it - is the ONLY eraser I’ve ever found that can actually remove Conte, and take off very soft black charcoal as well (with some smearing).

Enjoy.

P.S. Off to an agility trial, so no posts until sometime next week.