Jewel-like or eggshell finish, and edges

I have recently discovered a wonderful way to finish my paintings, which lend them this beautiful jewel-like or and eggshell quality, depending on the very final steps.

The first one is definitely more sexy, similar to Ferrari car finish, only thicker and more luscious. The other goes a couple of steps further, and the result is a soft satiny finish, yet as transparent, and it seems more appropriate for some of my nature related art, requiring a more organic look.

As far as edges go, I let the painting guide my decision. Not all paintings look good with natural wood edges, in spite of the panel birch wood color being beautiful. At times, I can simply see that the whole will look more appealing if painted. I also do not like to attract much attention to the edges, are the painting needs to be the focus. For this reason, I never use any type of finish that could distract the viewer, such as paper pattern collaged on or textured paint.

Finally, I have opted out of using frames all together as I feel that it is an unnecessary element. I like how the imagination can expand beyond the sharp edges of the painting and a frame would create a stop to that. That said, at time I have considered using a floater frame and that is something that may help me enhance my work in the future. For now, simple and beautiful is best.

Painterly yours,

Aude

Quote of the day:

"The purpose of art is washing the dust of daily life off our souls."

~ Pablo Picasso

Painting on wood panels

I do all my work in acrylics on wood panels instead of canvas. I prefer by far using a hard surface since I layer a lot of paint. But, mainly, I distress paintings with gusto, using sandpaper and all sorts of gouging tools from dry points to screwdrivers and knives. A canvas absolutely cannot withstand this treatment, neither does illustration board, although I made a couple of paintings on the latter and it was more forgiving than canvas, but was way too porous, and sanding didn't work very well.

What I like best is when I sand is that the results are usually beautiful. This process allows me to get a softer, worn out look, sometimes even grunge-like and adding a glaze or paint on top is like the cherry on the cake. I can build much depth, and no other surface allows me to do so.

I also, on occasion, add collage to my work and paper glued onto wood is perfect, since it's made from trees. There are no issues as long as you use medium properly and here too, the result is gorgeous. Same with transferring an image from a laser printer copy, which I'm starting to explore some. One more process is using artist tape to get very straight lines, and that would not work so well on canvas.

My favorite suppliers are RexArt and American Easel. RexArt even creates custom sizes.
Here are the links to their sites:

• http://www.rexart.com/canvasmain.html
• http://americaneasel.com/cradledpaintingpanels.aspx

Best,
Aude