I like to work on paper, particularly for small pices, they are less ‘precious’, and paper is easier to travel with than panels. Working on paper also gives you the option of cropping down, often revealing stronger compositions. In addition I don’t like to trap paintings behind glass unless necessary, I like to be able to see and feel the texture.
This year I created some small oil and cold wax paintings on specialist paper and masked the edges off. It was lovely to pull the tape away revealing a clean crisp border. I framed a couple and put the rest in cellophane for an Art Walk in Spain, they complemented my large paintings beautifully and I thought folk would like them. But more than one person commented that they thought they were reproductions of my large paintings, none sold. on reflection I felt they were trapped in the cellophane, people couldn’t feel the texture and the white border says “print”. For the next event I took part in I mounted them on plywood and float framed them…they sold!
It is possible to mount large pieces on paper onto panel, but start small until you are confident. Pamela Caughey has an excellent video channel on YouTube. She shows in one how to mount a large piece, and in another how to flatten a large piece of buckled paper for mounting.
You will need a
- strong glue, the rule of thumb is the thicker the paper the thicker the glue! A good quality PVA will work, I use GOLDEN Extra Heavy Gel.
- A spreader or palette knife
- Panels, mdf or plywood that have been sealed with thinned pva, GAC100 or Gloss medium to prevent acids in the wood seeping into the paper.
- Silicone baking sheets or waxed paper to sandwich between work and boards.
- Boards; drawing boards or chopping boards.
- Your artwork on good quality paper. For oil and cold wax paintings I use either Arches Huille or Canson Figures, both are designed for oil painting. I also mount collagraph prints on Fabriano onto panels and apply matt varnish or Dorland’s wax to seal the surface. You could mount watercolours similarly.
I still use masking tape, which results in a border, but that’s because I attach my painting paper to boards to work on.
Taping your artwork to board, or even cheap card or copy paper, keeps the BACK clean….that’s really important as any wax or oil paint will reject the glue! I painted these slightly larger than the 20cm square plywood panels they were going to be mounted on.
Mark on the back of your artwork to indicate the position of the panel.
When applying your gel or glue make sure you go to each edge and corner, be generous!
Align the panel.with your marks and drop it down. Now carefully flip it over, at this stage the glue is slippery and your panel may slide out of position. If you have a slim margin of error this could result in a white stripe!
Lay a piece of silicone baking paper or wax paper on top and using a roller roll from the centre out and in all directions, until you are confident it’s flat and even. The paper will naturally absorb moisture from the glue which makes this easier after a few minutes. If your paper is very buckled dampen the back and lay it sandwiched between absorbent paper overnight before mounting.
Lay the panel into another sheet of silicone baking paper or wax paper and put a board in top. This photo shows four paintings stacked up. I use heavy boards but you could use books. Leave overnight, don’t be tempted to unwrap them earlier, if the glue is not fully dry your paper will tear at the edges when you cut it.
Unwrap your artwork and using a very sharp knife and cutting mat cut away the excess paper. The glue will have squished out of the sides but will be dry, just cut straight through it. Cut past the corners, not just up to them for a clean corner.
At this stage if you want to, you can stain the edge to lose the white paper/clean wood. I use a little acrylic in a similar colour and wipe it round on a cloth, it doesn’t stick to oil paint so it’s easy to clean off any excess. If you want to do this with a collage or print then seal the surface first so you can wipe off excess.
I also mount canvas onto panels, but it needs to be a very fine weave, or you get fraying at the edges. I use a polycotton gessoed canvas ‘Belle Arti 575’ available in UK from Jacksons link on my supplies page.,
Finally it’s into its frame….
Sally, this is a great explanation, I have been thinking about how to work with paper and the mounting problems. I will book a workshop if you make one next spring in Spain! Spain 🇪🇸! I hope you will!
Thanks Gerrit!..decided to do one workshop each time we come…Just one!
Oh sally hirst, ever an inspiration! Thanks so much for this crystal-clear explanation. Appreciate you sharing your wisdom and experience. Cheers!
Hi Susan!
Glad you like it😊…let me know if you have ideas for any others I could do? Sx
Thanks so much Sally, inpirational as always. Have to rush to studio now and try it out
Thanks Margaret!..and congrats to your granddaughter on her graduation💛
Thanks! This is excellent advice.
Sally I’m thinking there is no glass?
And what glue is used when you mount the block on the frame.
🙏🏻 Kerry
Thanks! Yes no glass, varnish or wax. I use Golden Geavy Gel but pva will work too. I’m putting all this and more on my new Collage course . Collage Creations
https://sallyhirst.co.uk/collage-creations/
Great article Sally, thanks for sharing! I want to do the same with my oil and cold wax pieces on Arches Huile. Have you ever varnished them, or sealed with cold wax as well?
You can varnish with Gamvar. But I tend to just use Dorlands as a finish coat, I like how it gets into all the textures. 🙂
Hi Sally, thank you so much for this step-by-step demonstration! I’ve tried doing this with a couple oil pieces painted on paper. Overall it’s a nice effect, but one thing that I notice is that the surface texture seems to flatten after being pressed under heavy books, which is disappointing, because I feel that the raised texture and the way it varies across the painting contribute to the overall effect of the work. Do you have any tips for preserving this texture?
Hi, In order to ensure its fully stuck down you need the pressure.. Oils stay soft for many many years. You could try building your substrate with light molding paste to get textures before applying thinner layers of paint. It’s a method a lot of artists use to save on paint too!
Hi Sally, I have some acrylic paintings on thick paper, and will glue them to ply. What is the best way to seal the surface of acrylic paintings on paper ? You mention sealing oil and cold wax and watercolour, but could not see anywhere you mentioned sealing acrylics. Thanks !
Hi, Its all on this video ☺
https://youtu.be/ckg-YS65PZc?si=hMX3zcBjSni4-Zsf
I love how you present these pieces. Do you use standard cradled panels for the frames?
Hi, yes, if I mount on thin panels ie 5mm a 25cm panel sits nicely in a 30cm cradled panel. Not all cradled panels will have the right frame though, some like Jacksons are too wide? Seawhite are good and Belle Vue on Amazon.
Thank you Sally, that’s so helpful! If you don’t mind me asking, what sort of paint do you use on your cradled panels?
I always mount work on paper or canvas to panels, I prefer that to working on them directly as it gives me more freedom to crop etc.
You can work on panels with acrylic paint, oil paint or encaustic. You will need to seal and gesso the panel first.
What type of frames? Are these premade birch painting panels painted and reversed?
Yes ☺ I teach how on part 4 of my Collage Creations course
Really helpful demonstration thank you. I think the acrylic medium is better than PVA because I’m not sure PVA will be acid-free.
PVA is acid free, my preference for Gel is its consistency? I find PVA glucky…. but it will work, make sure you use a waterproof pva, the ones used in schools are water soluble.