Tutorials, videos, tips & techniques

Learn techniques from professional artists, follow tutorials, videos, and more.

Artwork by Jim Musil

The combination of Claybord’s kaolin clay coating and smooth surface allows for free-flowing brush strokes, intense color, and the ability to remove paint from the surface with ease.

At Ampersand, we noticed that floater frames available to artists didn't properly accommodate wooden panels. So, in 2016 we began manufacturing our very own. Ampersand Floaterframes offer a complete and easy solution for displaying your artwork on panel.

In this step-by-step guide by Celia Buchanan, you’ll find a fun and easy tutorial for fluid art. Explore with Marabu Alcohol Inks and acrylic pouring medium on Ampersand Claybord Art Tiles.

Garron J Barrett

Garron J Barrett did what some can only dream of. He quit his full-time job to become an artist. The Atlanta-based Pastelbord artist went from public accounting to applied arts.

Gessobord artist Erin Berrett is a contemporary realism oil painter best known for her still-lifes. Some of our favorites are meaningful commissions that have sweet or fun and quirky backstories.

Taylor Reinhold

When Ampersand launched our largest surfaces ever, we wanted to collaborate with artists whose experience is primarily creating on a big scale. This led to our collaboration with aerosol artist Taylor Reinhold.

Sarasota, Florida-based Claybord artist, Alexis Fraser, is otherwise known in the art scene as "Lipstick Lex". With an emphasis on promoting love, self-love, beauty, personal empowerment, and creative inspiration through her subjects, Lex's innovative method delivers chic and conversational art that is equally vibrant as it is unique.

With work that references teachings from Zen Buddhism, Christian mysticism, the poetic traditions, and contemplative practices including yoga and meditation, Dietlind Vander Schaaf's artwork has been described as "the transformation of disparate objects into elegantly simple compositions of pattern and grace" (Artscope).

From a background making non-objective art in NYC to a move to Vermont, the tides changed and a passion for plein air took hold. This love of the outdoors is additionally translating into larger studio works. Painting in the field, to limitless color. Ever-changing light, and the sound of a spinning world engages and challenges both perceptions and expression.

Amy Shawley Paquette demonstrates her "painterly illustrative" style using Claybord and Golden High Flow acrylics. Inspired by nature, texture, color, and travel; her work incorporates figurative elements with wildlife, architecture, and landscapes that are influenced by her adventures.

Did you know that you can customize Ampersand’s Floaterframes? One way is to apply a metal leaf. A gold Floaterframe is a beautiful treatment that can enhance your artwork and truly make it stand out.

Ampersand Primed Smooth works great for making silhouette paintings of your family or friends. Its smooth surface means that you’ll have excellent control of both the drawing and the painting steps in this project. Also, because it is a rigid panel, you can frame it without a mat or glass when you’re done for a lasting keepsake!

Claybord is great for this kind of work because of its versatility. The rigid panel takes the pressure of an image transfer process without bending or tearing. Its smooth surface allows for a clean transfer and for collage materials to make a perfectly flush connection.

We caught up with Beverly, MA artist Andrew Houle, who uses oil on Ampersand Claybord, for a Q&A session. Houle, recognizing influences from Hopper and Rockwell, has worked towards creating a personal narrative through his paintings connecting the viewer to his or her community.

Ask Doris Vasek about what inspires her, and you’ll immediately hear her passion for creating intense, beautiful, and custom color. "I feel as though color is like music. In music, there are only so many notes to work with, but look at the variety that you can create."

Transform a reference photo of a person into a monster or caricature! Techniques in Procreate and acrylic paint on Pastelbord are shown here as a means to illustrating these monster and caricature portraits, and approaches to distortion, drawing a range of textures and forms are explained. Demo led by Art Prof Clara Lieu and Teaching Artist Deepti Menon.