aaron valentin

There's definitely something very meditative about gessoing new surfaces. Something just gets me about the process -- it's very mindless, mechanical, and involves very little, if any, creative effort. Plus, since I've been working with alot of found materials (which has made me pretty proficient at harvesting usable panels from discarded furniture and the like), prepping has become about 75% of my process -- especially with how quickly I actually work on creating a piece. Since found wood, particle board, and laminate panels don't necessarily provide the most ideal surfaces to work on, I usually spend a few days dropping layers upon layers of primer. It's nice though, when all is said and done and I have 5 or 6 (free) surfaces at my disposal.