( My description of working watercolours on gessoed panels. Not sure this doesn’t merely repeat the previous paragraph.

“ Never one to be contained by any medium, i have over the years made continuous leaps forward to take the watercolour medium in new directions opening new possibilities, & have once again done so here.

I have been painting with watercolours directly on gessoed birch panels since 06 / it was a lateral move back in beginning of this new century when sales of watercolours on paper were tanking and the reasons cited blaming glass and distorting reflections didn’t wash as everything else under glass was still selling.

    an early infinity rings on panel   20×48 watercolour /acrylic painted directly on gessoed panel

Working on gessoed panels isn’t much fun, being akin to painting on kitchen counter top with every stroke beading up streaking, smearing, misbehaving like so much split coloured water, but I am dazzled by the new textures, the strength, immediacy and directness that results, (and my work on paper is strong).

I work negatively from light to dark by building up layers upon layers of watercolour on the gessoed panels, wherever necessary further mixing acrylic gel medium into the watercolours which renders them acrylics. The paintings a mix of watercolour and acrylic are deemed mixed media works;

They finished by painting around the edges and as such can be hung without a frame or

floated in a float frame. To secure the watercolour I lightly apply 2 coats of spray fixative, and once dry,

l lay on 2 coats of varnish, just as any oil or acrylic, to seal it permanently against the elements.

the importance of working on panel was and continues to lie in that it offers us an alternate way to work out ideas.  what is fascinating and  is coming to understand what, from my way of working with watercolours on paper also works on panel and what doesn’t and having to invent new ways to apply the paint onto this plastic surface. Having scoured the internet for anyone else working in the same way, & unable to find a soul painting watercolours directly onto gessoed panels, I find myself, for a brief moment anyways,in a unique position creating something never been done before     a n d   as far as i know, there is still noone else  working this way out there for me to interact with.