I had purchased some aluminum panels for another project but hadn’t used them yet and wasn’t sure what the experience would be like. It was my first time painting on metal and I thought it was a bad idea to just jump in unprepared, so I actually did two tests of different kinds, three years apart, before finally getting around to putting it to use for the intended final work!
As I had regular contributions to Every Day Original at that time, it provided one outlet to begin experimenting. So, I worked up this small painting in part as a way to play with painting straight on unprimed aluminum panel. It’s a surface that has a wide range of applications: being archival and strong, it can be painted on directly, the brushed side in particular, which I used, can be primed like a masonite panel, or used as a substrate to glue canvas to. I have used canvas panels adhered to aluminum, and liked them. They sometimes come dual-bonded to a firm plastic core, the other side being almost glass-smooth. I couldn’t imagine painting straight on that, however, as it would seem like just painting on glass itself.
