A Swedish-inspired painted sideboard - Part 3 - Painting a practice panel
with TESS NEWALL
Lesson 27 of 32
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To avoid costly mistakes, you'll learn how to create and use a practice panel - something Tess always uses in her decorative painting work.
From the Lesson Workbook
A Swedish-inspired Painted Sideboard - Part 3 - Painting a Practice Panel
When your project involves painting a large piece of furniture, it's worth working on a practice panel first to avoid any costly mistakes.
Tips for Creating a Practice Panel
- First apply your colour wash, so that you are working on an accurate representation of your final piece. This is also an opportunity to work out how many layers of washes you need to achieve the colour you want.
- Test out how watered down you want your paint; I like watering it down quite a lot to achieve an antiqued effect but you may prefer a more solid colour.
- Check how all your colours are working together, especially how they look against the background wash.
- Now is also the time to practise the finer details you want to include in your piece that you may not have captured in the mock-up.
You Will Need:
- A surface to practice on - This could be an offcut of wood or Canvas MDF boards
- Chalk pencil
- A selection of the smaller paintbrushes
- Eggshell paint in a colours of your choice - As Eggshell paint is unavailable in tester pot size, you could buy the Emulsion tester pots and work with these first to see if you like the colours before committing to the full-size Eggshell pots for your final piece.
- Paint palette
- 3 x water jars filled with water
- Damp cloth
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Your Instructor
Tess Newall
Acclaimed artist and set designer specialising in hand painted homewares and decorative painting.
Tess Newall is a decorative artist based in Sussex, specialising in hand-painted bespoke murals and furniture. Following a decade of experience as a set designer and painter in the film industry, Tess has mastered how to bring a creative vision to life. She often draws on historic patterns and aims to capture an artisanal feel, where textures and brushstrokes add to the atmosphere of a room or to the character of a furniture piece. Tess and her studio team work with interior designers and private clients on bespoke commissions for both commercial and residential projects, as well as collaborating on homewares collections with brands including Liberty and Matilda Goad.
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