Painting on wood

You can decorate almost everything with wood painting. It can be dishes, various accessories for the house, caskets, vases, combs, bracelets, beads, earrings, toys. You can also paint wooden furniture, wooden sculptures.

Each master has his own approach to painting on wood. But there are several common steps thatwill help the beginning artist to perform his first painting on wood. This is the preparation of the surface of wood, the application of a protective coating, the application of a primer, the actual painting on wood, the fixation of the painting. Let us dwell on each of these stages in more detail.

Preparation of a wooden product for painting begins with grinding ("Sanding") of the surface being painted. Grinding is needed in order to further color pigments better "mesh" with wood and the painting was more resistant. For grinding, experienced masters recommend using at least 2 types of sandpaper: first with a larger grain, and then with a smaller one. Grinding is always performed along the direction of the wood fibers.

The next stage is application of a protective coating on the surface of wood. As such a coating, as a rule,there is a stain: alcohol, water, oil. Stain helps the wood to be stored better. The stain should be applied to the surface of a wooden product in accordance with the instructions given by the manufacturer.

After applying a protective coating begin to primer the surface of wood. Primer provides a more evenpaint application during painting. Priming composition is applied to the product either with a wide flat brush, or, if the surface is large enough, with a roller.

Finally, it is time to perform the painting directly. It is best to use modern acrylic paints for painting: they are bright, persistent, have many shades. Also suitable for painting on wood oil paints, but they dry more slowly and less diverse. And beginners can use artistic gouache when performing their first works.

Techniques for painting on wood are very diverse. In this case there are both folk, centuries usedtechnique (Volkhov, Severodvinsk, Khokhloma painting), and individual, applied by each master to his taste. Young artists on a tree can for their first work using a simple technique: Apply the contours of the figure on the woodwork with a pencil (manually or "carbon copy"), and then just fill in the contours of the selected paint colors. Gradually you can develop your own style of work.

When the product is painted, it is necessary to fix the drawing. For this, the product is varnished, more often -acrylic. Furniture varnishes (nitrolaks) or oil paints can also be used. The choice of varnish depends on which product is painted. For example, acrylic lacquer under the influence of heat can make wooden products slightly sticky, so wooden decorations like bracelets or beads are covered with such varnish is undesirable.

Painting on wood - this is a very interesting and fascinating hobby. However, in the beginning, buying wooden billets for painting can be costly: many will have to be discarded until the result is satisfactory. Therefore, beginners can first try their hand on dense primed cardboard before embarking on a "real" job.