Ampersand Panels

My new order from Dick Blick art supplies has just arrived - and in it some new products from Ampersand that I plan to experiment with. One is the Aquabord shown here. I bought the 2" deep cradled panel (which is really deep!) in 2 sizes - one is 8" x 8" and the other is an 8" x 10". What I like about this format is that I won't need to frame the watercolor painting after it is finished. 
I have also purchased Birgit O"Connor's dvd on how to frame watercolor without glass. Birgit was one of the first watercolor artists that I bought an instructional video from, many years ago now. I still think she is an amazing watercolor artist, who developed her own method of doing large watercolors in (what I see as) the style of Georgia O'Keefe.

The second product I bought is the Clayboard, again in the deep cradle so that I don't need to frame it. This one is a clay base - which will be much different from the gesso I am used to using - even on their gessobords. The Claybord is great for acrylic, which is what I intend to use it for.

I also got a couple of new Silver Brush Black Velvet Brushes which I absolutely LOVE. I now have 5 of them - and use them almost exclusively for my watercolors. They are not the cheapest brushes - but they really hold a point and LOTS of water/pigment! Sooooo, with all these new things to play with, I anticipate a great week  in the studio. :-)
 I'll let you know what I think of each of these products as I use them.