A Nifty New Painting Panel

I learned about these panels from Nancy Holtz, another member of the Auburn Old Town Gallery. She had some paintings on them in the Gallery last year.

Made by Art Boards, they are a natural fiber panel with different painting surfaces adhered to the front. I used the Cold Press Watercolor Panel. There's a bit of texture, but not too much, so the paper works great mixed media pieces like those below. I use ink (a Micron pen) for the darkest areas, then watercolor washes, then I finish up the detail with color pencil (typically Prismacolor).

What's nice about these is they don't need to be framed. I spray the art with a coat of UV resistant spray and that's it. The boards are 1/4" thick and have a slot on the back for hanging. I also tint the panel edges to match the color of the paper next to the edge.

They're a fun way to create a small piece of art. Now that I've done three of these (with 2 more in the works), I'm offering them as an option for commissioned pet portraits. I enjoy working in different styles and mediums and by offering a variety, my clients have more styles and prices to choose from. This "art board style" is a hybrid between my looser "Paintings with Petzazz" watercolor on Yupo pieces and the far more detailed ink on scratchboard or pencil portraits. As you can see from these three paintings, I use vibrant colors. A white dog does not have to be white and grey and a goat does not have to be brown!


"Bailey" - Wheaten Terrier, 4" x 4"


"Goat #1" - 4" x 4"


"Goat #2" - Pygmy Goat, 4" x 4"

You can find Bailey & the two goats on magnets in my Zazzle shop and on note cards in my Bonanzle shop. They're also on all sorts of merchandise (ceramic tiles, mugs, t-shirts, etc.) in my CafePress shop: goats and Bailey.