Artist's Corner

A Note from the Panel Maker

Welcome to the Artists' Corner section where artists gather to find useful tips and relevant panel painting information.

Although our recipe is ancient, many artists are new to the experience of painting on our unique gesso panels.

Happy painting!

James Parkes Sulkowski
President & Chief Artisan
jps@masterpanels.com

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Painting on a Masterpanel, by Elizabeth Brandon

To begin painting this late afternoon scene with distant trees, fields, and a road on a blue panel, I use some oil with the violet color, and use big brushes to mass large middle tones, distant silhouettes and shadow areas. The blue panel tone sets the stage for atmosphere and a general blue sky influence on the whole landscape. I play with the surface as it will allow changes easily- maybe more quickly than canvas. I can apply the same blue and move into using umber for more shadow color and drawing in the foreground. It becomes a goal for me personally to keep the shadows thin as did the Old Masters.

I begin to lay in the warm cerulean blues of the afternoon to cooler ultramarine blues across the panel and add some pinks for the far away horizon area. As I draw in the earth tones in the grass and road, my colors can get thicker, close in value, and just stay put as applied on the panel.

Slowly I begin to use smaller brushes to refine my drawing in the light areas of the trees and road and even the house in the middle distance. I simply follow the planes of light falling across the landscape and describe the flickers of blue sky reflected in leaves and ground planes. When I hit my greatest light or white areas, I just keep the brush loaded and thick with paint and oil. Gradually the painting begins to finish itself with this process of moving around in the landscape and working all areas.

Elizabeth's paintings reside in private collections throughout the United States and abroad. To learn more about this artist please visit her website at elizabethbrandon.com

 

 

Why Tone?

• Old Masters such as Titian, Rubens, Rembrandt toned the panel's surface before painting.
• To enhance value relationships in the painting.
• Can't see white paint on a white surface.

Pro Series panels are available in 6 distinct tones. Here are just some historical uses for these authentic colors.

Pink - A versatile base tone great for Plein air painting and in the studio. Color comes from earth pigment terra rosa. Favored by both the French and Italian schools for figurative or portrait work.

Blue - Perfectly suited for plein air landscapes and seascapes. The blue tone enhances the qualities of aerial perspective in landscapes as articulated by Leonardo in his notebooks.

Raw Umber - Typically used for studio work with figure, portraits, and still life. This atmospheric earth color was popular with Renaissance Italian and Venetian schools of art.

Yellow Ocher - For use in both the Studio work and en plein air. Flemish artists such as Rubens adopted the ocher ground for his figurative oil sketches.

Terre Verte - Traditionally for studio work with portrait and figure. 17th century Spanish master Velasquez preferred this as a transparent halftone for portraits and the figure.

White (clear surface) - For artists who prefer to paint on a white surface, this option renders a ready-to-paint sealed surface without a base tone.