TIP: Alla Prima Panels
After years of being more than slightly dissatisfied with the painting surfaces available for alla prima work, I finally came upon the right combination of silky feeling and absorbency.
I was never really satisfied with the wash-in stage - too slippery and the paint falls down the surface. Too absorbent, and it’s like trying to sock-skate down your grandma’s hallway in bare feet.
Then there was the problem of darks. Couldn’t get them! Julian Merrow Smith gets them… Richard Schmid gets them…. My darks were never dark enough (while still retaining that airy alla prima quality).
Finally tinkered enough to come up with this recipe - which happens to be a classic. Even though you’ve probably read this before and it’s not earth shattering news, let me just raise my hand and testify that it works. Amen!
- tempered masonite panel, 1/4″
- 3 coats acrylic gesso, applied in cross directions
- layer of flake white, allowed to cure for 3 weeks (or more… I hear 6 months is lovely)
- wash of burnt sienna + ultramarine blue, allowed to dry for several days
- for medium - use stand oil + OMS or similar. It will allow for a second layer as the OMS evaporates from the first.
Easy! Not too slick, but not absorbent at all. It’s a good combination. Have you tried this? Have another recipe? Please let us know.
6 x 8″ oil on panel, alla prima.
First Daffodils, Lisa Gloria, 6 x 8\
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Now I’m imagining a company that will build and age panels for you like fine wine. Order 6 months in advance, please.
I have a different recipe for my alla prima landscape and figure paintings. I paint an application of Gamblin’s Neo-Megilip with a stiff brush across the whole canvas. In the initial drawing stage of the canvas, the Neo-Megilip allows the brush to glide easily across the canvas. To refine the drawing, I use a clean brush with a modest amount of Neo-Megiilip to wipe the unwanted areas away. After a while the Neo-Megilip starts to take on a tacky quality which will allow for heavier coats of paint. I use a lot of glazing in my paintings, and this method works for me. Neo-Megilip is a complicated medium but, there are even more techniques for its use than I have explained here.
For my panels, I have used a recipe by Stapleton Kearns - and it has worked quite well for me for both plein air work and studio work. I prime the panels with oil alkyd primer from the paint store - applied with a roller, two coats. A very light sanding after the second coat.
I used Benjamin Moore Oil Alkyd primer, but there are other brands - Sherwin Williams is one.
This seals the panel and the roller creates a slight eggshell kind of surface that is quite pleasing to paint on. I then will use any leftover latex housepaint to paint the back of the panel, just to seal from any moisture.
Nothing beats oil primed Belgian linen, but I simply can’t afford to use that for everything. So sometimes I’ll get just regular store bought canvas and add an additional primer of flake white mixed with medium , applied thinly with a palette knife. Depending on the canvas, one or two coats of this makes a wonderful non absorbent painting surface.
I like working on panels prepped similarly to yours, Lisa - a lean layer of oilpaint on top of the acrylic primer on hardboard/masonite - I use lead + titanium white, toned with a bit of raw umber and ivory black at about value 7 (comes out roughly 10YR 7/1) and allowed to dry well before use. I mostly use a medium of 25% refined linseed/25% venetian turpentine/50% turpentine, used very sparingly.
That is one beautiful floral, Lisa - well done!