Thursday, March 5, 2009

Thursday, Day 4

The Road, 2009, Oil on Birch Panel, 12x16

I did several more small underpaintings (on the left) yesterday.
Finished paintings stacked in front, panels to be prepped at the back (not sure I should be doing larger panels, but could use the "stretch" right now), and paintings in progress on the wall:
I am trying to be optimistic that all this work won't just end up in my storage space. Not much room left there!

4 comments:

Jo said...

So these panels, do you buy them or make them? Also are they 1/4 inch like masonite or are they more like 1/2 an inch? And how are they attatched to the backing frames? And at what size to you switch to panels that have a backing? And do you find that bigger panels are too heavy for people to hang in the homes on normal drywall? Sorry for the barage of questions but I too am looking to work on some larger pieces and I really prefer board to canvas. Thanks for any insite you can give me!

Tracy Helgeson said...

Hi Josephine, no problem answering your questions. I buy all these panels at Soho Artist materials in NYC. They are kind of pricey but I am not really set up to make them and would never be able to do such a nice job either. The panels are 1/4 birch and the cradles are 1" deep on the pieces smaller than about 18x24, and 1.5 on larger panels. The cradles are glued onto the backs of the panels and then nailed together. The cradles are made of pine and so even the really large panels are still pretty light. I have never had any sort of problem with hanging them.

Jo said...

Thanks very much, I think this is the type that I will be attempting to make. With the help of my wood working father.

Jala Pfaff said...

I really love your work. It has such an interesting, Hopper sort of feel for me, lonely kind of, which is actually an amazing feat given that you're using warm colors a lot. To be able to use warm colors and still achieve that lonely sort of feeling...Great stuff!