in production

So i have begun the next series of paintings. For those of you who don't know, I like to work on a whole series at the same time. It seems to take me about a year. I make all the canvases and panels in the beginning, about a dozen or so. I have lately been preferring panels over canvas, but for works larger than 6 feet, it is just not practical to use panels. This is one of the big canvases i just stretched. It is 8 by 5 feet.




I use the old school traditional renaissance methods with these. It's painstaking, but i just love the results i get with these methods. I seal the canvas with a glue made from rabbit hides...



which makes it tight as a drum, although a few rabbits have died for this cause.




I also make panels out of fine grain plywood, which i prefer for the rigid, smooth surface, although there is a noticeable difference in weight.



This is how the panels are made; with a lot of glue and clamping.



And then these must be sanded repeatedly, primed with gesso (I use the old rabbit skin glue/pigment/marble dust method) and sanded again and again. All in all, to prepare all these painting surfaces should take me several weeks. There are people (myself included) who wonder why i go to such lengths to make my canvases when most people do not bother. And i don't really have a good answer. Perhaps i am a bit obsessive.

Only a few more studio sessions and i will be ready to paint. Let's hope the paintings deserve the canvas.