Thank you Bill, for posting this beautiful painting ( please post close ups). At first I was shocked at the idea of sanding a painting, but after my 12th look at this I became curious. So, you have inspired me to try my first painting on a panel with wet sanding. Any other tips would be appreciated.

Painting on a panel is a very different experience, and since I'm a "texture junkie", I'm finding this to be like learning to paint all over again. I'm not going to post it until it's past the ugly scary stage cause it really looks bad right now!

Thank you for the inspiration.

Jean

I finally finished the painting -- or at least it's almost finished!

Here are a few shots.

The painting measures 9x12" and is painted in oil on panel.

Here is a detail -- actual size.

This detail is well over actual size.

I took the shot in raking light to show the paint texture. It's actually not very textural-appearing in actual life.

This doesn't qualify as a "portrait," although is certainly a likeness of my model -- a very close likeness.

I end the series with this extreme close-up of a hand, again taken in raking light.

I will now let the painting sit for a month, out of sight, and then get a nice fresh-eyed look at it and probably change some stuff.

I always do.

Bill

Thanks, Bill, for posting these. What a great idea. I need to start doing this too!

Hi Bill,

I always loved to see your work. I think it

It's amazing.

Jean

What is ABS and where do I find it?
 

Googling ABS turns up a scary array of choices - none of which appear to be appropriate. Who knew "ABS" could stand for so many things?

ABS = acrylonitrile butadiene styrene.
An industrial plastic.
I buy a 1/16" thick white sheet of this material, glue it to plywood using countertop cement, sand it until it looks like a lovely piece of matte ivory, and paint away. No priming necessary. It is archival.

A great alternative is to buy a gesso panel here. http://www.realgesso.com/
These panels are primed with gesso -- not the acrylic stuff, but the real thing.