Relief paintings in plaster: how to achieve them

In This section I’ll talk about How to make the relief paintings in plaster .

Over the years I have experimented with different techniques to achieve a lasting relief over time and to allow me to have an ideal thickness, in order to give the idea for example of a wave, a stormy sea…., or the trunk and the foliage of a tree.

It starts from a rigid support like a plywood panel that will be the base of the framework on which to work the chalk.

For the preparation of the plaster mixture (also goes well the canary) you put the powder in a container and little at a time you add water, this in my opinion is the best method to get a homogeneous compound. Of course the proportions of the mixture between chalk and water vary depending on the type of bas-relief you want to make. For a soft dough will suffice to keep the proportion equal to half water and half chalk, instead for a more fluid blends recommend three parts of water and a chalk. If you want to get the movement of the waves or the white foam, the dough must be liquid enough so that it can be spread out with the spatula and give a jagged effect to simulate the effect of the waves and the foam.

If instead you want to represent a Relief picture Depicting trees you will need a more dense and dry dough, remember that the plaster dries quickly and then you have to calculate the time you need to spread it, always with the help of a spatula, or more spatulas, larger and smaller just to To be able to outline the edges of a trunk and the relief of the bark. To give the impression that on the picture there is a large tree with a very thick canopy must use a trowel and moving the dough obtained with chalk, making movements on the picture both horizontally and vertically to create small ridges , it will give the impression that there are many leaves and will give the impression of seeing a thick canopy.

Advice before attempting to create a relief plaster framework to start with small tests to familiarize yourself with the preparation and processing of chalk, you will see that the more tests you make and the more it will become easy and fun.

THE Relief pictures in plaster Both the weight of the support in wood and the thickness of the pad will be quite heavy and more delicate than the normal pictures so you take into account the choice of the size of the picture.

For those interested, I suggest you take a look at the section Relief panels of my site, or alternatively to pass in person to Cuneo, Via Carlo Balasubramaniam 35b, every day from 9.00 to 12.30 and the afternoon, Saturday and Sunday by appointment, telephoning to 3339584707.

For any information or to commission and purchase a work of painting in relief or abstract, you can contact me by email info@irenedurbano.it or filling in the form Contacts page.