Home Page

Stefan's Florilegium

paintg-panels-msg



This document is also available in: text or RTF formats.

paintg-panels-msg - 2/25/12

 

Assembling wood panels for use as a painting medium.

 

NOTE: See also the files: pigments-msg, painting-msg, woodworking-msg, wood-finishes-msg, glues-msg, brushes-msg, plaster-msg.

 

************************************************************************

NOTICE -

 

This file is a collection of various messages having a common theme that I have collected from my reading of the various computer networks. Some messages date back to 1989, some may be as recent as yesterday.

 

This file is part of a collection of files called Stefan's Florilegium. These files are available on the Internet at: http://www.florilegium.org

 

I have done a limited amount of editing. Messages having to do with separate topics were sometimes split into different files and sometimes extraneous information was removed. For instance, the message IDs were removed to save space and remove clutter.

 

The comments made in these messages are not necessarily my viewpoints. I make no claims as to the accuracy of the information given by the individual authors.

 

Please respect the time and efforts of those who have written these messages. The copyright status of these messages is unclear at this time. If information is published from these messages, please give credit to the originator(s).

 

Thank you,

    Mark S. Harris                  AKA:  THLord Stefan li Rous

                                          Stefan at florilegium.org

************************************************************************

 

Date: Fri, 27 Oct 2000 09:31:34 -0500

From: Cindy Baker <cebaker at ilstu.edu>

To: sca-arts at raven.cc.ukans.edu

Subject: Re: wood panel painting

 

Greetings, Asa.

 

As I understand it, panel painting was usually done on a wooden board which

was sanded smooth and coated with gesso. A layer of size (hide glue) might

be applied to the raw wood before the gesso to make the gesso adhere better.

The gesso was made of size mixed with slaked plaster-of-paris or ground

chalk in some form.

 

I think the usual paint medium was egg tempera. I'm not sure how oils would

behave on this type of gesso ground. Modern commercial gesso is really not

the same substance as the medieval gesso.

 

Egg tempera is fairly easy to make. Mix the powdered pigment with water to

a thick 'toothpaste' consistency. Then add egg yolk (about 50/50 yolk &

pigment paste is a good starting point.) You can add more water to thin the

paint to brushable consistency. Paint out a bit on a sheet of smooth glass.

Let it dry. Use the edge of a knife to 'peel' up the dried paint layer. If

the paint cracks and powders, you need more egg yolk. If it lifts off in a

sheet or strips, you have about the right mix. Some pigments need more yolk

than others.

 

There are a couple of good sources on period materials:

"The Craftsman's Handbook, Il Libro dell' Arte," by Cennino d'Andrea

Cennini, Dover Publications ISBN 048620054x

"Medieval and Renaissance Treatises on the Arts of Painting," by Mary P.

Merrifield, Dover publications ISBN 0486404404

Your local library might also have some good resources.

 

Maybe some of the other folks on this list have more info on other types of

support or recipes for gesso & tempera?

Ellen of the Scholars

Middle Kingdom

 

At 10:55 PM 10/26/00 -0400, you wrote:

>I am interested in doing painting on panels in probably a Northern Ren

style.

>  I understand the style, colors, techniques but have gone blank on the

>materials to use to "recreate" a panel.  I've misplaced my college books and

>am looking for some good places to start.  Any advise?  I've done tons of

>acrylic and guache but I am not familiar enough with oils to really feel

>comfortable.  Will a gesso base on wood work with an egg/tempera media?    

>When I've worked with modern oils I had a tendency to muddy the picture and

>rush the drying times.  Are modern oils close enough?  I know each artist

had

>there own recipe.  I don't want to end up with a Leonardo Disaster where the

>paint slides off the suface.  What about the panels?  I've used masonite in

>college, would that be an okay base or should I try luanne or plywood?  I

>know I've seen some good references on these, but my brain has turned to

>mush.  Thanks for anybody's help.

>Asa Hrafnasdottir, Loch Ruadh

 

 

Date: Fri, 27 Oct 2000 12:20:33 EDT

From: "Lady Derdriu" <deirdre1114 at hotmail.com>

To: sca-arts at raven.cc.ukans.edu

Subject: Re: wood panel painting

 

One thing that also seems to work is to sand the gesso down once it is

completely dry. This requires applying several layers of gesso and letting

each one dry completely before applying a new one. You should buy different

grades of sandpaper and start with the coarser ones first, working down to

the finer ones for the smoothest surface possible. This creates a really

nice surface to work with. I don't know much about recipes for period gesso,

but the commercial stuff works pretty well if you aren't particular about

authenticity.

 

--Derdriu

 

Lady Derdriu ingen Muiredaig

mka Abby Carr

Minister of Arts & Sciences

Canton of Elvegast

 

 

Date: Sun, 29 Oct 2000 14:29:56 -0800 (PST)

From: P Hammond <pompam3 at yahoo.com>

To: sca-arts at raven.cc.ukans.edu

Subject: Re: wood panel painting

 

I have done some oil on wood painting years ago.  The

only prep necessary to keep the painting from

"disappearing" is to seal the wood with some sort of

clear sealant that will fill the pores of the wood

before starting.  The sealant we used was plain old

acrylic or poly coat.  In the middle ages they would

have used a lacquar or shellac type substance.

However, these take a millenia to dry not to mention;

especially for shellac, cause the paint media to

change color after type, as it too will absorb into

the paint and "lift the color". I don't have any

primary sources for this but one could look in any of

the "Micalangilo, Rembrant, etc" type books for

clarification on exactly what media they would have

used.  In addition, the sealant would have been

different of course from region to region depending on

the available basic components to attain the effect

needed.  

 

Caitriona of White Moor

 

 

Date: Wed, 01 Nov 2000 00:21:42 -0500 (EST)

From: <Rutlands at aol.com>

To: SCA-ARTS at UKANS.EDU

Subject: Wood Panels

 

Greetings from Daniel of Rutland, OL, Atlantia, who didn't know this list

existed until just an hour or so ago.

 

I am a portrait artist who works primarily in oils on panels. paintings

have traditionally been done on gessoed and often linen-covered wood panels,

when done on panels (as opposed to "canvas"). In none of my research have seen evidence of just working on a sealed, as opposed to gessoed panel, in

pictorial (as opposed to decorative, as in furnishings) artwork. The gesso ranges in thickness from artist to artist and region to region.  Northern

artists traditionally used less gesso than southern ones did.  I believe

Petrus Christus used next to none.  But I will check that out and get back to

you.  The porous wood must be sealed, which was done with a hide glue of some

sort, and is best covered with some gesso.  The gesso should buffer against

the acidity of the wood, conceal the grain and make a smooth surface for fine

detail work. The more gesso the smoother the surface that can be achieved.

 

When I say gesso I do not mean acrylic gesso, which is a totally modern

phenomenon.  I mean calcium carbonate of some sort mixed with animal skin

or hide glue of some kind.  This is gesso grosso.  Gesso sottile (pardon my

spelling; it is late at night and my reference books are in another wing of

the house) is made of slaked calcium sulfate typically, such as gypsum, which

is then dried, reground and mixed with the glue solution.  It is mostly a

southern, such as Italian, phenomenon, and is more for egg tempera work and

gilding.  

 

I have painted on gesso for years.  It is best done with an egg tempera

underpainting if you have patience.  The gesso soaks up the oils in the lower

layers, which should be lean, i.e. low in oil and thin, anyhow.  How to

reduce the porosity?  Coat the panel with a layer of hide glue or oil and

solvent, such as turps.  The recommendation for this goes back centuries, I

believe, but is not evidenced in practice.  I use so many layers that it

doesn't really matter.  Just make sure the paint dries adequately between

layers.

 

The following is a brief synopsis of my sort of period gessoing technique that

I sent a friend a week or so ago:

 

All of my gesso work is on panels. My current m.o., in a nutshell, is to make

a 1:12 glue solution, cover one side and the edges of a board (oak or 5-ply

mahogany plywood) with the solution. Let it dry a day. Do the other side. Dry

again. Brush on another coat of warm glue. Lay linen smoothly on it, brush on

glue until the linen is saturated, then smooth it with an acrylic brayer.

 

Turn it over, pull the excess linen around, do hospital corners or some other

taut ones, and glue the linen down by the same process. Pray heavily that the

panel doesn't warp. Then coat the back with a solution of glue with some

calcium carbonate added in, not a lot. Then gesso the front several layers.

My formula now is one part glue solution, 1 3/4 parts calcium carbonate, 1/4

part titanium (not period) to brighten it up, and a dollop of cold-pressed

linseed oil, which makes a smoother gesso and supposedly makes it less

absorptive, which is needed for oil painting but not good for egg tempera. My

latest panels are the first with the linseed oil. I will let you know how it

works out. I have not documented the addition of oil to the gesso to period

sources.  

 

I brush on the gesso, then smooth it a little after it has set up a

little, using a steel, Stanley scraper, a very hard small rectangle with no

handle. After it dries slightly from gleam to glisten I put on another coat,

and then another, and more until I am ready to scream. Usually around 5

coats. When it is dry, and if hasn't cracked, I smooth it a little with the

Stanley, then wet sand it with a coarse sanding sponge. When it has dried, I

smooth it more with a medium and then fine sanding sponge, then rub it down

with some bunched up linen. The glue I am using is Rabbit Skin glue. The

calcium carbonate is Champagne chalk. It gets lumpy and I put the gesso

through cheese cloth once or twice before applying it. Fredrix marble dust

doesn't get lumpy that way. Most of my materials I buy from Kremer Pigments

in New York. Do you know them? Wonderful array of period and similar stuff.

A more period tool than the Stanley scraper is a wood wedge.  

 

On a related note that someone asked about in one of the posts on panels:

 

Modern tube oils have the same basic ingredients as the old time (period)

ones, i.e. pigments and oil, although unless you are careful you can get

modern synthetic pigments in your paints. However, various fillers are of

ten added to tube paints, which changes the consistency radically into that

pastiness that doesn't work for period techniques unless thinned way down.

For more period paints mix your own.

 

You can buy good pre-ground pigments, from places like Kremer Pigments, and

good oils, from places like Kremer Pigments, and mix them on a glass or stone

flat surface with a muller.  I use a big glass muller that I bought from

Kremer Pigments. Work the pigment and minimum possible oil together on the

plate,  smushing it in various directions, including a figure eight pattern,

until fully mixed.  That can be a minute to half an hour, depending on the

consistency and evenness you want.  One of the beauties of hand-mixed paints

is that they are not as silky as commercial and can reflect and refract light

in far more intriguing and subtle ways.

 

Enough for now.  Bedtime.  If you want documentation or more detail for any

of the above, ask and I will try to find the time to come up with it.

Another day I will get into period panel making and assembling processes

(as opposed to using plywood).  And then into period frames, one of my ongoing

passions.  See the latest issue of Arts & Antiques magazine for an

interesting article on the historical role of frames.

 

-Daniel of Rutland

 

 

From: Kirk Poore <xxxremovexxxkirkpoore at home.com>

Newsgroups: rec.org.sca

Subject: Re: Wood panels for paintings

Date: Tue, 09 Jan 2001 22:23:01 GMT

 

von_landstuhl at yahoo.com wrote:

> I've been asked to make a 2x3 foot wood panel for a painting using 15th

> Century techniques.  I know how these boards were edge joined to make

> wider panels, but does anyone know if they were cross-braced in the

> rear to prevent warpage?

> Thanks,

> Ulrich

 

Probably not, though it may have been done sometimes.  The panels probably

would have been quarter-sawn, which doesn't warp as bad as typical

flat-sawn lumber you find now.  Panels set into walls or furniture would be

held flat by the frame they were set into.  Properly dried quartersawn

boards should not warp much if you take care to seal the back as well as

the painted surface.  For example, if you're going to gesso your panel,

make sure you gesso the back too. Otherwise the back of the panel will

take in and loose moisture much more quickly from the front, so it will

tend to warp and then flatten out with changes in humidity.  It's kind of

neat to see this--but it will lead to cracks in the gesso and your

painting.:)

 

If you're not going to put this panel into a piece of furniture, and don't

mind being a little unperiod, you can screw crossbracing to the back.  Be

sure to put the screws through slotted holes on the bracing to allow the

panel to expand and contract naturally. Nails would be period, but they

wouldn't hold nearly as well as screws.

 

Kirk FitzDavid

 

 

From: Kirk Poore <xxxremovexxxkirkpoore at home.com>

Newsgroups: rec.org.sca

Subject: Re: Wood panels for paintings

Date: Wed, 10 Jan 2001 17:11:20 GMT

 

Mandy wrote:

> > > Nails would be period, but they wouldn't hold nearly as well as screws.

>   I missed this thread... but ohh, shudder at the thought of screws. I

> preferr joints and nails, but hate screws..... my husband , on the other

> hand, puts them in everything it seems.

>  Griet

 

There are less jarring non-period possibilities also.  For thick panels (3/4"

or more), you could use a router to carefully put a couple of dovetail slots

across the back, and then slide in a dovetail-shaped brace.  Fasten each in the

center with a single nail or brad, and the panel can be braced while still

expanding and contracting freely.

 

Two other possibilities are breadboard ends (which may be period, but I have no

evidence of it), or tongue-and-grooved boards across the ends.  Tongue and

groove is period and fairly easy to do, but I'd be a little concerned about the

long-term durability.  Both of these solutions would also give you cross-grain

wood at the surface of the painting.  You could hide them behind a regular

picture frame, but if you choose to paint over them you'll get a crack in the

paint as the main panel expands.

 

Kirk FitzDavid

 

 

From: Kirk Poore <xxxremovexxxkirkpoore at home.com>

Newsgroups: rec.org.sca

Subject: Re: Wood panels for paintings

Date: Wed, 10 Jan 2001 22:59:51 GMT

 

"Anthony J. Bryant" wrote:

> Kirk Poore wrote:

>> There are less jarring non-period possibilities also.  For thick panels (3/4"

>> or more), you could use a router to carefully put a couple of dovetail slots

>> across the back, and then slide in a dovetail-shaped brace.  Fasten each in

>> the center with a single nail or brad, and the panel can be braced while

>> still expanding and contracting freely.

> That's how we prepare panels for icons.

> Less the nails, of course.

> Effingham

 

The nail is put in from the back, and just keeps the brace from sliding.  It wouldn't go all the way through to the paint surface. Friction alone is probably good enough, however.  Since you're talking about icons, is there a religious reason for not tacking down the brace piece?

 

Kirk

 

 

From: "Anthony J. Bryant" <ajbryant at indiana.edu>

Newsgroups: rec.org.sca

Subject: Re: Wood panels for paintings

Date: Wed, 10 Jan 2001 18:57:05 -0500

Organization: Indiana University, Bloomington

 

Kirk Poore wrote:

> The nail is put in from the back, and just keeps the brace from sliding.  It

> wouldn't go all the way through to the paint surface. Friction alone is

> probably good enough, however. Since you're talking about icons, is there a

> religious reason for not tacking down the brace piece?

 

Not that I know of. It's just not done. (We have been known to use glue, though.)

 

Effingham

 

<the end>



Formatting copyright © Mark S. Harris (THLord Stefan li Rous).
All other copyrights are property of the original article and message authors.

Comments to the Editor: stefan at florilegium.org