It may seem obvious to those of you who follow my posts on Art Supply Guide that I have this love of painting on wood. The surface is just so smooth and you also have the option of letting the natural wood grain showing through your in art. It really adds to the piece. I have used different types of wood in my art such as wood plaques, laser cut wood plaques and frames, birch and pine plywood and and other projects using reclaimed wood such as pallets, old table tops and fence boards. I love the rustic aesthetic that wood can bring to a work of art. This style of wooden plaque is actually a slice and comes straight from the tree with the bark still in tact. Usually they will come smooth enough to paint on but if it doesn’t, it will just need a bit of light sanding to your personal preference. These wood slices make gorgeous art pieces and you can get them in various shapes and sizes from large enough to paint a work of art, to tiny enough to make a necklace pendant out of them.

A few of my fellow artist friends have some amazingly beautiful pieces that I wanted to showcase because they are using this new type of wood slice that has quickly become a preferred surface by many artists’ works shown in galleries worldwide. Check out these amazing pieces by Joanna Mendoza and Charleen Juliet.

Joanna wood slices

Joanna Mendoza

Joanna Mendoza is an artist and illustrator that created these lovely pieces on round slices of wood. She uses a combination of watercolors, colored pencils, metallic marker, acrylic paint, pearl iridescent fluid and white gouache to create her paintings. She then uses a polymer varnish to seal it for long term protection. The wood required no additional sanding, however, the bark is delicate so handle with care. Joanna’s artwork from left to right: Coraline fan art,  a rose and a bat. To see more of Joanna Mendoza’s art, check out her Instagram art account here.

charleen wood

Charleen Juliet

Charleen Juliet is an artists known for her Prismacolor Pencil portraits and illustrations on paper but she transferred her favorite medium onto these wood slices to make these gorgeous woodland portraits of lost girls. Who would have thought using colored pencils on wood would be so beautiful? Pictured from left to right: girl with a bird’s nest hair, Katsune fox girl, and a Deer girl. To check out more of Charleen’s work, visit her Instagram art page here.