One surface I love to use for painting is matboard, not to be confused with mountboard. Whenever I mention matboard in a post I'm referring to the paper plyboard that is normally cut to frame a piece before the actual glazing and external frame is added. This time I decided to try working on the reverse side of the board. This side has a small amount of texture to it and it looks like it might be more absorbent. I wanted a soft muted appearance for my winter landscape so I coated the entire surface with white gouache and let it dry before beginning my painting. This worked to soften my colors as I painted and allowed for better lifting where needed.
When a painting is completed many artists clean their palettes and begin again with fresh paint. I like to dabble in 'palette muck', the leftover colors that have inadvertently run together. I've discovered some amazing greys this way and for certain applications the low chroma colors that the muck can produce are perfect. This scene was painted entirely with muck. I finished it off with white fluid acrylic 'snow', spattered on with an old toothbrush.
6 comments:
Muck is good!!!!
Spread the word, Maggie!:D
This is lovely Billie and would make a perfect card.
I'm an avid user of end of palette colours as well. You can create a lot with them.
I'm still not sure of the difference between matboard and mountboard, perhaps just terminology in different countries. The matboard you explain would be masonite to me I think or am I on the wrong track entirely?
To me matboard is the cardboard-like matting used on top of drawing or watercolour.
I've come up with some of my favorite shades using palette leftovers, Jeanette.
Matboard to me is the paper plyboard(cardboard)that you describe which frames the artwork and is visible beneath the glazing. Mountboard is a foam core backing on which the art is attached. I felt the need to explain myself in my post because I got a message from one of my FB friends in the UK informing me that across the 'Pond' they refer to matboard as mountboard. I'm confused. Are you?
Hi Billie,
Love this painting and the mood created with your 'mud' - my favorite kind of paintings. How does matboard and the 'tooth' compare to [Crescent's] illustration board, or have you tried both to compare and how thick is the matboard you use? Thanks, Becky
Thanks, Rebecca.:) I've only used 3/16" matboard so far. I haven't tried the illustration board yet so I can't compare the two.
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