This is my introduction page to my Relief paintings. The thumbnails above are all of the relief paintings that I have created. All of them have oil paint as a finish but have a range of materials that I have used to raise the surface and/or texture the canvas.

The Relief Gallery displays oil paintings that have raised surface from the canvas. I use a combination of materials that make up the solid forms. I have used Styrofoam and mat board to project farther off of the canvas.

Texturing canvas turns in to a lot of work when you consider constructing it to last. I texture my canvas with gesso and a power mixture. Because the gesso I use is waterbase I dry the textured canvas in the direct sunlight. This evaporates the water from the wet gesso mix and forms a rick solid, oil paint ready surface. I usually wait a few days before actually applying the paint just to let it set solidly. Take a look at the illustration below to see how the textured canvas looks before applying the paint.

Raising the surface of the canvas and sculpting the surface was a natural progression to my style of art. I enjoy the accents that I'm able to bring out on the canvas and in some cases I separate the main subject from the background. Grasping For Life is an example of that. I have a piece in the surreal gallery titled Creating Infinity that has a relief in it that does not reveal itself as clearly but is an intricate part of the painting.

I enjoy creating shapes of faces in relief paintings. I learned a long time ago that i don't have to stay 'between the lines' and make something look exactly as it looks. I like being able to tell stories about these paintings more because the inspirations are not as personal. Many of the relief paintings displayed on my site talk about how I constructed the artwork. I have included developing photos and more information on many of the pieces.