Identical Panel, Different Brand?

My favorite paintings surface, hands down, is Ampersand Gessobord. They're a little on the pricey side...but so worth it, since they're magic. A few months ago however I bought a lot of these Blick panels, they're not terrible, but they have this weird canvas texture on them that bothers me sometimes...they're just not quite as magical.

Blick Studio Artists' Boards

Then I stumbled upon these at Art Essentials downtown:

Ampersand Value Series

I was instantly intrigued, a value series from Ampersand? What makes them different from regular Ampersand? I quickly inspected them only to find that they're the exact same panels as the Blick ones. With the same weird canvas texture, and the strange hang hole in the back of the flat ones, and available in all the same sizes. Have any of you had similar discoveries?

November 11, 2009

Today's painting was much more successful, in my opinion. It was my first attempt at painting on a masonite panel. It had a very different feel than canvas, but I loved it. I chose another photograph that I took at the Santa Barbara courthouse, since I really liked how the other one turned out.

oil on panel, 6x6

SOLD