Making Panels Out of Masonite

I chose Paynes Gray paint because it was a dark gray with  a touch of blue in it.  I like the effect of light pastels on a dark ground or underpainting.  

For my purposes the Fine Pumice Gel worked best.  I also tried the Corse Pumice Gel but it had too much tooth on the surface and ripped my pastels up at an amazing rate.  It made painting almost an excercise in abstraction.  You had to stand about 30 feet away to see the subject I was painting.  I ended giving the painting to a bus driver at Crystal Cove State Park in Laguna Beach www.crystalcovestatepark.com as payment for the ride to the parking lot.  The best thing I can say about the experience is that I learned from it.

The process of creating these panels is very simple and quick.  I have never been a formula or recipe kind of person.  Each time I have made these panels I have experimented with the amount of Pumice Gel and Acrylic paint.  Other than using the wrong size pumice all of my panels have turned out really well.

As you can see I use standard house painting stuff.  I am using a Purdy 1 and a half inch all purpose paint brush.  I really like the thickness of the bristles for adding texture to the panel.  All I do is make my mixture of pumice gel and acrylic, mix it up to an even consistency, and brush it on with random strokes.  I insure that I have covered the entire surface.  Sometimes I try and imagine the type of landscape I will paint on the surface and do a rough sketch of that subject with the pumice gel mixture.  The panels have been taking about 10 minutes to dry once I have completed covering them.  This is a very economical way to create surfaces.  The surface below measures 24"X36" and would cost me around $30.  I figure my cost is about $8 for the same size panel.

I purchased acylic paint, pumice gel in small and medium grit at Ultrect.  Both the pumice gel and the acylic paint were Golden products.  I bought 2 4'X8' sheets of 1/8" tempered hardboard.  I got them as a special order at Home Depot.  It took 4 days for them to come in.  When I picked them up I had a sales associate cut them to the predetermined sizes I wanted.