The usual path for the beginning oil painter is a march to Wal Mart to purchase a few standard size medium grained canvases.  And that is just fine and an inexpensive way for the beginner to get involved in oil painting.  The learning curve on oil painting is steep and many techniques need to be tried and many canvases need to be tossed in the rubbish when the painting fails to impress the artist.  There will come a point (about 15 or 20 paintings) when the beginner is really no longer a beginner.  Anyone who has completed 15 paintings is no longer beginning, she or he is in fact an artist in progress. And this title remains for life and fits every oil painter throughout history including the old masters.  A common path for artists in progress is to construct their own painting surface.

Most artists simply paint on what is easily available and that is canvas and many begin to put together their own frames and canvas.  However, there are in fact many choices but less readily available.  Oil painting on a board is much easier than painting on canvas but it can be a challenge to making the board work well. Most composite boards warp easily simply by applying Gesso.  You can purchase wood art boards, but they are very expensive compared to canvas.  An alternative is to create your own art board.   What happens is that your entire being becomes part of the painting process starting with the time it takes to make a painting board.  And that is what embeds the soul of the artist into the painting.  Now you are painting on something you created. 

I have developed a complete system for making a painting board constructed from Luan, a type of plywood but does not have the weight of plywood.  Calling Luan a plywood is probably a misnomer because it does not have a core of wood.  “Normal plywood is literally layers of wood glued together with an external veneer.  Luan has an AIREX ® solid foam core with an external veneer glued to the core. It is much lighter than normal plywood.” 

If you have a desire to try making an oil painting board visit my blog post, Making a Luan Board, for complete instructions with photos on how to construct an oil painting board.  It does take time, but when you have mastered the craft you will never paint on canvas again.

You’re As Dead As You’re Going To Get
Nevyn

aka Woodland Star