Hiding His Tracks

9 X 12 Oil
Check with Artist for availability

For fun, fellow Daily Painter, Kay Crain and I swapped photos - she sent me some beach ones and I sent her cowboys. See what she did with the same photo here. I have not yet painted the beach - been too hot in Texas already and I don't need any reminders. Maybe I'll revisit my photos of Colorado mountains....My momma wants me to paint birds!
I am going to take this opportunity to explain what "oil on homemade canvas board" means - which currently is my preferred method of painting. These are not cardboard canvas panels that you are probably familiar with that we as children first learned to paint on (I still have a few of those left, though). Instead, I buy huge rolls of pre-primed cotton canvas and cut it to fit OSB boards that I (or Mike) have already cut to size (in this case 9 X 12). I use an archival acid free glue that is actually a cross between glue and paste. I smear the goop onto the board and then I roller the canvas into place using a rubber ink roller - and I can do this before or after I have painted the canvas (making sure the paint is dry, of course!) Both kinds of boards are quite good and will last generations, but I like this method because it saves me a little bit on expenses, and I can cut the size I want almost immediately, without having to wait on a postal shipment (I live pretty far from the nearest Hobby Lobby or Michaels).
The advantage of canvas board over stretched canvas that it is thinner and thus can be placed in frames that have a shallower inset (like those used for watercolors). I have had other artists suggest I seal the OSB with a primer on all sides before I stick canvas to it to prevent moisture absorption and to improve its archival qualities. I may start doing that on the next "batch", but so far I have had no problems with OSB warping. Masonite, if cut much larger than 9 X 12 can warp, however, if it is not secured in a frame well, so I will no longer use it for larger paintings. I still paint on stretched canvases, but I really like the firmness of the boards - sometimes stretched canvases just have too much "spring".
Psalm 46:2
Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,