Let's Talk about Substrates!
Amy Shawley Paquette
For last week’s Facebook live session, I focused on substrates - the surfaces we paint on! We all have our preferred surfaces and I thought it would be fun to show substrates that I love painting on for my own work, as well as ones I’ve loved for teaching workshops. Below is my session video and a summary of what I shared, along with links you can explore!
When it comes to my own work, I’ve been a panel girl for years! I started off using canvas and quickly discovered I didn’t love a flexible support, so I switched to using hard panels. I had been painting larger work then (circa 2005) and would build my own wood panels - I loved the adventure of trekking to the hardware store to stock up on wood, then cutting the backing strips with my mitre saw and hammering away at nails when I thought my neighbors weren’t home. As my paintings got smaller, I moved towards pre-made panels since it was more cost and time effective to purchase them that way, and ever since I’ve been trying out all types and brands of wood surfaces and hardboard. Occasionally I’ll work canvas or linen back into the mix, and of course paper surfaces for watercolor. When I do product demos at art supply stores, I enjoy purchasing their store-brand surfaces or brands that are specific to that chain or local shop. I’ve categorized them here by type…
Hardboard Panels
Hardboard or fiberboard panels are essentially dense, compressed, wood fibers with some kind of binder*. They are wonderful for painting on and provide and smooth surface. The two brands I shared were:
Richeson Hardboard Panels - I typically order these in bulk for teaching and studies, their economy pricing makes them hard to pass up! These panels are uncradled (no backing strip, 1/8” profile)
Ampersand Hardbord - in the 1/8” profile, they come in packs in the small sizes, but they also have an option for cradled panels and at varying depths.
There are several other brands that make a version of this - the Davinci line at Jerry’s Artarama, Art Alternatives, etc.
You can also get these boards in huge sheets from hardware stores and cut custom sizes if you are equipped for panel building - a place like Home Depot can cut them for you but don’t guarantee “precision” cuts if you need panels to be an exact size (ie: you can ask for 12x12in sizes but some may be 11 3/4)… this is a great options for larger bulk sizes if you are teaching.
I enjoy purchasing these bare, then priming them myself - see my Grounds blog for ideas - but you can also order panels like this with a variety of specialty primers already applied (look into Ampersand’s options as a starting point - Claybord, Gessobord, Aquabord, etc).
*A great article on wood panel substrates with a section on hardboard/fiberboard: https://www.justpaint.org/understanding-wood-supports-for-art-a-brief-history/
Wood Panels
There are a variety of woods you can paint on and I often end up working on birch or basswood as those panels are popular in pre-made panels, and they maintain a lovely grain texture. I try and pick up wood panels from all the art stores I visit for demos, especially if they have a brand I’ve not tried. Here are some to look into…
Jerry’s Artrama “Davinci” Panels - if you live near a Jerry’s, it’s fun to go in person and see all their options for bare panels and primed panels. They do online ordering and sell bulk panel cases in addition to singles. These are the most recent ones I’ve purchased and what I’m working on now
Artist & Craftsman Supply - they have stores all over the US and offer a panel supplier I haven’t seen elsewhere called Apollon and what’s fun about that brand is they offer round birch panels!
Plaza Art Supply - they also have about 13 stores in the mid-Atlantic, southern region of the US. It is the store I frequent the most in my region for product demos. They have a great selection of the Ampersand Artist Series panels (and I’ve also bulk ordered the Art Alternatives MDF panels from them for teaching).
Duho Studios - If you are looking for something more exotic, they offer a broad selection of hardwood surfaces with exciting grains and colors. They also make metal panels, which I do not get into in this FB live, but the option is there!
Further reading on the topic of wood and hardboard panels:
https://www.justpaint.org/plywood-as-a-substrate-for-painting/
https://www.justpaint.org/surface-checking-and-plywood-is-it-a-concern/
Canvas/Linen
It is rare that I paint on a flexible piece of canvas - just once a year when I make holiday ornaments - but canvas and linen have such a lovely surface feel and their own texture which looks great underneath paint! I like teaching some techniques on canvas panels, and there are also some high end linen panels I’ve tried and loved, so those are listed here…
Fredrix Cut-Edge Canvas Panels - these lie flat nicely and are priced economically for painting studies or teaching a class. Be cautious as they are sensitive to environmental changes and can warp, best to keep them in a temperature controlled place.
Linen Panel (Raymar) - I mentioned these in my session, I attended another painter’s workshop where he supplied one per student and they were beautiful!
Linen Panel (Lucius Hudson) - I have not personally painted on one of these but they look incredible and are carried by the amazing art supply store in my old neighborhood in Downtown LA!
If you love the feel of canvas/linen but want to make your own panel, you can adhere them to wood panels yourself - there are several good YouTube videos out there you can search for!
Further resources on painting/preparing canvas:
https://www.justpaint.org/painting-supports-cotton-canvas/
https://www.justpaint.org/preparing-a-canvas-for-oil-painting/
A must watch on Support Induced Discoloration, which is the phenomena of discoloration in your acrylic surfaces from dark substrates: https://www.goldenpaints.com/videos/support-induced-discoloration--sid---what-is-it--and-how-to-minimize-it
An older blog post of mine on SID: https://www.amyshawleypaquette.com/blog/2011/10/4/whats-with-the-yellowed-gel.html - note it was when GOLDEN suggested GAC 100 as a fix, now they recommend Gloss Medium as the better option.
Watercolor Paper/Board
Watercolor paper could be in its own blog post, but for my purposes here, I wanted to share what I’ve been loving…
Canson Plein Air Watercolor Artboard - it’s sturdy like a board with the surface of watercolor paper! The boards come in 10 count pads with one gummed edge, are affordable, and run in standard sizes. I love them for my own work and teaching.