Welcome!  Do ou know about claybords?  Also known as "scratch boards" particularly when stained black, these highly versatile archival  panels made by Ampersand are a dream come true for those of us who love to play with paint.  I use water-media on these smooth and textured claybords (now called aquabords) & am thrilled with the results.

My favorite water-media include CARAN d’ACHE water-soluble wax pastels, tube watercolor, & CRETACOLOR Aqua briques.  I do not use brushes when I paint, rather an assortment of tools including cloths, scrapers and my hands to produce marks that are painted, drawn and scratched into the clay board surface.  I also employ washes of color to create semi-transparent zones, depths in space and to encase and preserve marks from each stage of the painting.  The contrast between fluid, luminous water-media and rigid grooves scratched into the clay surface evokes for me the interaction of natural forces that created New Mexico’s dynamic landscape.