Tondos for Pi Art Squared - An exhibit celebrating the circle

I'm thrilled to announce that I will be exhibiting in Pi Art Squared, the brainchild of artist Kate Taylor.  Kate has always loved the idea of painting on circles, or tondos and a few years ago, she came up with the idea of having a show... like a square foot show.. but all 12" tondos. Her husband came up with the name and so, Pi ART Squared was born. This year’s exhibit takes place March 11 – 20, 2022 at the Art Alchemy Art Studio and online. 75 artists were accepted into the exhibition, each contributing 1 - 5 round artworks each. The exhibit includes artists from across the country, showcasing a huge variety of subject matter, style and techniques!

Here’s part one of a two-part blog taking you behind the scenes in my studio as I prepare the tondos and create artworks for exhibition in Pi Art Squared. 

Before I begin here are some definitions I’ve found helpful:

Tondo

1. A round painting, relief, or similar work of art.
2. A plate or dish with a flat rim very wide in proportion to the size of the center, and usually decorated with especial reference to the border painted upon this rim or marly.
3. A round picture or other work of art

Pi
The number π is a mathematical constant, approximately equal to 3.14159. It is defined in Euclidean geometry as the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter, and also has various equivalent definitions.

Each artist works with a 12-inch circular panel made by Rustic Burl & Co. I decided to go with a trio of tondos for the exhibit.

Most of the other artists are painters and the submission details stipulated no reproductions, so I assured the exhibit organizers that although I'm not a painter but I take a painterly approach to photography in that I usually create one unique piece instead of editions.

This is my first time adding metal leaf to a panel this size and I’m happy to report that it worked out well.

To prepare the wooden surface for leafing I applied 2 coats of prime and 3 coats of grey paint. This undercoating paint seals the wood surface and ensures that the adhesive size (glue) needed to adhere the metal leaf doesn’t get absorbed by the wood.

I’m working with Nazionale Aluminum Ribbon Leaf that I order from Kama Pigments in Montreal  You can also purchase leaf in smaller sheets but I prefer working with ribbon leaf because I like the way it covers larger surfaces.

To cover the 12 inch tondo I used two sections of ribbon leaf and carefully measured and marked the tondo to make sure the sections were applied evenly.

I want the metal leaf to wrap over the side of the tondo so I applied glue to the side and back first.

After applying adhesive to the side and back I flipped over the tondo and applied the adhesive to the front (one half at time since it dries quite quickly.)

To cover the tondo I cut a 15 inch section of leaf.

If you’ve ever made pie, you’ll recognize this technique of cutting flaps so that the piece of metal leaf fits to the circle.

Here’s a view of the backside of the tondo with excess leaf that I’ll clean up later.

In my next blog post I’ll show you the next steps, including cleaning up the excess leaf, a fully covered tondo and the final result after I apply the image on the tondo surface.