Direction

I worked on heavy paper for a long time, until I felt that I needed something that might last a little longer. Canvas is the obvious choice, since we’ve been using that since we stopped painting exclusively on our cave walls. The thing with stretched canvas, is that it’s bouncy. Some people like this bounce, but I’ve come to learn that I hate it more than Walter White hates that housefly. 

I need something sturdier. I worked on unstretched canvas for a while, because it allows clients to have the work stretched by a professional. It’s also easier to ship, especially internationally. Unstretched canvas can be temporarily mounted to a panel or your wall even. You can buy it in bulk, rolled up, so it’s very easy to cut to any size or dimension you want. Hell, you can even cut it into whatever shape you want and go for it.

But however fine a weave you buy, it will of course have a canvas texture. And that didn’t work for me, in general. I like to control my texture from the start so my first preference is a smooth surface.

Next in line are panels made from wood. I like panels. I’ve prepared a few myself in the past and when you make sure they’re sealed properly on all sides, they can last a long time. I feel this is the advantage that panels have over canvas, which is usually unsealed at the back. You can prime and sand and repeat that until you have a finish as smooth as you want it. It can also take some force, both in application of paint as well as the weight of impasto.

Wooden panels however, are expensive. At large sizes, they also become unreasonably heavy which is an issue when you want to hang them.

For a while now I’ve wanted to try something that I came across a year or two ago; aluminium di-bond panels. I purchased a few of them, cut to size, for some canvas to mount. But now I wanted to see if I could prime them like wood panels.

A short description: di-bond panels (or sandwich panels) are made of a core of polyethylene pressed between two thin layers of aluminium. It’s used for industrial, road and commercial signs that are often on display outside. That makes it ridiculously weather-resistant and relatively light in weight.

The question of course was; will it hold paint and not magically eat my primer? I assumed it would work because why not, but I’m no hero in this department so before ordering, I consulted Youtube and found out Aaron Nagel already did the work for me, bless him. If you check out his video, make sure to give it a like so it’ll show up more often for other artists.

My plan affirmed by a man who looks like he knows what he’s talking about, I went ahead and ordered a bunch of smaller sizes for my months of experimentation. I ordered the 4 mm thick panels and had them cut to a few sizes. I’m in no mood to cut freaking aluminium myself and the supplier I order with did it at almost no charge. Previously, I had ordered 3 mm thick panels, which are also great but I feel that anything over 15 inch benefits from the rigidness of 4 mm panels. 

I sand them well, especially the edges because they can be nasty sharp. Then I clean them, and a final time with rubbing alcohol. And then you can prime, just like you do any other substrate.

So far, I enjoy them very much. They’re light and cost effective. I’m even thinking about mounting them into a frame with magnets at some point.