My third portrait of my sweet cat Jethro illustrates using Golden Fluid Acrylics on a white Claybord™ panel. Each of my nine portraits of Jethro presents a different art medium on a 3.5" x 3.5" Claybord™ Tile, created and manufactured by Ampersand Art Supply. For this painting I posterized my reference photo in Photoshop to reduce it down to a handful of values. I used just four colors of acrylic paint, with Paynes Gray as the darkest value. I mixed my paints with white gesso to create different tints for the other values. For some fun unique finishing touches, I decorated the unpainted background with dots of the same colors (dipping a pointed wood skewer into the paint and touching it to the Claybord surface). Then I painted the entire surface with a special Golden product called Interference color, in Fine Violet. Interference Acrylic Colors offer a unique “flip” between a bright opalescent color and its complement; in this case the violet flips to green as you look at the painting from different angles. The color is applied without diluting and lays down as a transparent coating. Unfortuately the dazzling effect is difficult to capture in a photo - it must be seen in person to experience the full effect.
This small painting is a good example of how you can create a realistic object as long as you get the values correct - even with just a few value changes. I love using Ampersand art panels - especially Claybord, Aquabord, and Scratchbord - enjoying the versatility and challenges these unique surfaces present.
Read about my upcoming Claybord presentation below.
Claybord Art Tiles are the same white kaolin clay-coated, ultra smooth, highly absorbent surface as original Claybord but in unique small sizes. This surface and size is amazingly versatile, for a variety of painting applications, jewelry making, collage, coasters, magnets, ornaments, scrapbooking, embellishments, and much more! I love Claybord for the unlimited techniques is allows: painting, drawing, etching, erasing, reworking, glueing, stamping, inking, transfering images, applying skins and more!
Claybord 101 Video
My series of portraits of Jethro are featured in a presentation I made in May 2021, titled “Claybord™ - The Ultimate Art Surface.” The 25-minute program is now in video form and you can watch it here, on my Video page.
Learn all about the amazingly versatile Claybord art panel for 2-dimensional art a wide variety of media - watercolor, acrylics, colored pencils, graphite, collage, egg tempera, airbrush, gouache, rubber stamping, alcohol inks, markers, image transfers, acrylic skins, oils and more. It can be used as a printing plate with an etching press, and is ideal for mounting papers and fabrics. You'll see my work on these panels as well as the amazing work, in realistic and abstract styles, by many successful talented artists.
Claybord is available in sizes as large as 4'x6', and the Claybord Art Tiles provide a fun small surface for many creative uses. These tiles are available in ATC (Artist Trading Card) size too, for a unique option to exchange with other artists. Try it yourself!
