Hi all,
I have a triple lead primed dibond linen panel. I used vine charcoal to put in a complicated figure portrait in sn environment. I inked it in with raw umber and turp. I am scrapping the composition for a different one snd tried to turp it out. The drawing won’t come out. Any suggestions. This is an expensive panel and I would like to use it.
I would just cover the whole thing with an even coat of raw umber and start another drawing using black this time for the lines.
Another option is to put a new coat of gesso.
If it wasn’t lead primed you could also sand the top coat down, but it’s is quite toxic to sand lead surfaces as the fine powder is super easy to inhale, and the danger is just not worth it as there are other options…
Hmmmmm… that’s an interesting problem. Unfortunately I have I no experience lead primed panels bit I’ll look forward to reading through some solutions here is anyone has.
I do know that you cannot apply modern gesso (acrylic dispersion) over oil but I am not sure if this holds for lead primed surfaces.
Thx for the quick response Tony. This is a pain!
I posted on Brst painting practices and George got back to me this morning. It’s his panel so he said I would have to re prime the panel with his new Alkyd lead ground that dries in 8 hours or the oil ground. I’m not crazy about me doing the lead priming:(
Suppose I mix just used a tone of warm gray mixed with titanium? That’s opaque but I hate using white under a grisaiile! And the colors and values may look different. I usually go on white and do a turp wash of raw umber so I get that oatmeal amber tone:-)
Thoughts?
I personally would not want to re-prime so I would probably go with covering the drawing with paint or otherwise tossing the board out (I know that is something that you do not want to do.)
Let me know what you choose.
No I do not want to reprime!!! I won’t toss the board out as it was 270.00!!! It was for a full length commission… the crazy lady changed her mind and wanted to then do another photo after two photo sessions! She’s a Madison Ave doctor that has had allot of plastic surgery and fillers. So she is a nut case. Thankfully I got half down up front for all my trouble! But I decided to not go ahead with a crack!
I would love to use this linen panel for another painting or portrait commission.
Do you think if I use the toned titanium one layer that it will affect my painting in terms of sinking in or chalkiness???
Wow that is expensive! As to what would happen I could not say. Again, I have no real experience working on the lead primed surfaces. I would appreciate it though if you keep us updated as to what unfolds. 
Yup!!! Trust me I am not happy about this lunatic doing these last minute changes because she doesn’t look demure soft and feminine. She loved it, called it magnificent and amazing. She approved the pencil line drawing I did. I printed my drawing poster size and transferred it just to make sure it’s the same look. It’s a carbon copy and she sends 10 emails and is stressed cause she thinks she looks like a man. I think it’s better if I don’t go all the way. This is a first time with someone this self absorbed. Trust me, she looked fantastic, so I’m scratching my head on her lunacy! For all that drama I got paid good money to do one week work and used that deposit to buy this to paint on! From what I understand, this is her usual behavior with painters, antique dealers etc.
For my portraits I don’t play around and use linen or dibond. So, I really want to save this one as itsonly a raw umber line wash. I’ll keep u posted!!! Thinking of just doing a 2" square of tone in a corner to see what happens.
Ok…soooooooo…I used titanium white and raw umber 90% white to 10% raw umber ration. This was primed with probably their new lead alkyd gesso as it was prepared and sent within a couple of weeks. Their lead alkyd gesso, which is new, has titanium in it to make the panel bright white and to allow it to dry in 8 hours. I’m assuming if they had to make it and pack it, they went with this instead of the lead oil primed stuff which takes a few weeks to dry.
Assuming this, I went ahead and put one layer on. Well, you can still see the drawing underneath… ghost of a drawing. I never had a lead prime canvas do that but, it is attached to aluminum panel so it’s not absorbent.
I learned an expensive lesson here. i think I need another layer of paint to cover it! Not doing that! I’ll just draw over it and paint it that way. I like my own turp wash ground vevayse I paint thick and thin and like the ground to come through. It will kill the whole effect.
For all who want to know the panel. It is Natural Pigments Artefex dibond honey comb panel with a triple layer of lead ground linen attached. It costs 271.00 for this 28"x40" shipping included to NJ. The smaller sizes are much cheaper.
I will keep y’all posted if I like painting on it when I do a figurative piece that size:-)
Thank you Anthony for responding so quickly:-)
Thx Stella. I tried that first and it didn’t work as it would have to be a dark layer to cover and this is for a figurative piece that has light flesh:-) thx for responding so quickly🌞