Painting on wood–a new experience

Stall plaque in progress–it’s been quite a process!

A few weeks ago we presented my friend Kim, who created our quadrille, with a thank-you painting of her mare, Sydney. She mentioned to me that she would like to have a larger portrait some day, preferably as a wood stall plate. Well, we finally got it together after researching pre-cut wood surfaces and painting on wood, which I have not done before this project. It’s been a learning curve but I’m happy that “so far, so good”!

Kim likes knotty pine wood, and wanted the finish to be natural, not stained. So the finished piece will only have clear protective varnish on it. The lettering was a bit of a challenge. I decided to do it all by hand rather than try to cut a stencil or do any fancy laser work. I’m a craftsman, not a techie! I think the lettering looks pretty super–it’s all acrylic paint, even the gold drop shadow. If anyone is interested in using gold paint that looks like real gold, try Utrecht’s Artist Fluid Acrylics “True Gold”. The bottle was only about $4 and under the pigment list it says “true gold”! I have no idea, but it really does look like gold.

Even though the wood surface is sanded quite smooth, the brush still resists as it crosses the grain. I managed to get the lettering done but realized painting the horse would be difficult on this surface. So I’ve put three coats of sanded gesso on the oval where the horse’s drawing is and I’m thinking that since that surface is pretty similar to the Aquabord™ I’ve been painting on for quite a while now, it should feel fairly familiar even though I’m going to be painting the horse with oils instead of watercolors.

The plaque itself is 20″ wide by 12″ high–should make quite a statement when it’s done!