The framing industry has a variety of materials to work with that provide; texture, design and colour. Suede mat board not only provides a vibrant and sophisticated look to your framing, we have discovered that it is also a great canvas to paint on with chalk pastels.

Suede mat board is fabric on a 4-ply or 8-ply paper, it comes in a variety of colours, and because of its surface it holds the chalk pigment well.

There are many types of pastels that will work with this canvas; contè, pencil, chalk, and charcoal. Oil pastels are not appropriate for this canvas due to smudging, and the pigment is not as vibrant as the chalk.

When an artist works on a coloured canvas it helps to establish contrast and complimentary colours. If you are working with a blue background use yellows and orange pastels to enhance the depth of the images, the pencil pastel will add fine lines of detail to define eyes or small shadows. The coloured background does not have to be totally covered, use playful lines and marks so that some of the base colour shows through. Make your mark by using squiggly lines, or by a heavy layer of colour to create a bold and distinguished outline.

Ooops! If you make a mistake and want to remove a mark just take a cloth and wipe it away, if your mark is thick and heavy squirt a little bit of water on the surface of the mat and rub it off. Try not to scrub the marks out to hard as you may end up loosing some of the fabric.

The mat board is very strong and objects can also be glued to it, (not too heavy). I have hole punched the corners of some of my art to create a chain of images, having a series of work attached to one another. There are many more ideas that develop as we play around with different materials.

When creating a work of art remember it is ALL about YOU and making your artist statement through colour & design.

If you are interested in trying this style of painting/drawing, stop by the Art Tree to acquire a suede mat board.