Ampersand Art Supply Wood Painting Panel: Museum Series Claybord, 5" x 7" - Pack of 3, 1/8" Flat Profile

For a long time, I preferred to use hot press illustration board for my finished artworks, but once I started to use these clayboards I find it hard to return to using it.Pros:- Archival quality. It is nice to know that my art will last for years on this board and still look beautiful.- SCRATCH OUT TECHNIQUE. In my opinion this sets clayboard apart from other surfaces because with ink or watercolor, you can scratch it out with an exact-o knife to reveal sharp white highlights that are difficult to achieve otherwise.- Gorgeous smooth surface.- Sturdy. I can safety transport my work to and from class without worrying about it getting bent.- It will not bend, regardless of how much water is on it. When doing watercolor/gouache, you don't have to worry about stretching paper. I used illustration board for years and for larger pieces, if not stretched and held down, even heavy illustration board starts to bend to the force of the water.- Takes gouache beautifully. The colors look so brilliant.Cons:- Hard to erase pencil on it short of scratching it out.- Gouache dries faster than I'm typically used to but that lessens as more layers are added.- Looks a little yellow when scanned into a computer. Now this is an incredibly easy fix in photoshop but I feel it should be mentioned.

this was a gift for my granddaughter for an art project

I love these clayboard panels. I had not used this type of panel before so bought this small size to try them out. I love them. They have a bit of a texture to them while remaining a bit smooth. Paint goes on smoothly and looks beautiful. I prefer painting on these panels rather than canvas. I used front loading plastic frames that I also bought here on amazon to display the finished painting on these panels. It makes the panel look finished and provides a way to hang it on the wall. The panels fit perfectly into the frames. Nice, high quality item for artists.

Size pictured is 12" x 16" -- size received is 5 x 7. I searched quite a bit and unfortunately overlooked the size description. Seller needs to match the actual product being sold to the product in the photo.***Update 6/20/2014*** I added stars in order to reflect my satisfaction with the product, rather than my dissatisfaction with the seller's listing. Also, it seems the listing now has the correct size pictured. Claybord is a joy to draw on, I even blogged a bit about my results and I was able to use this small 5x7 size in a diptych. One has to be careful about quickly erasing pencil guidelines, though. And it's not a good surface for detailed acrylic painting, since it absorbs the paint and your piece will be dry before you get to work it, unless you are a fast painter!

I love this product which h allows me to do watercolor without messing with the expense and difficulty of water color paper. Clay board is remarkably versatile and forgiving. I have used different sizes and have found that Ampersand through Amazon is the cheapest and great quality. The corners can chip easily and the clayboard from Amazon is shrieked wrapped to protect the product.

I felt it was a little over priced.

I love this Claybord. It's the only brand I use. It's great for all sorts of media from pencil or pen sketches, to oil and acrylic paints. I haven't yet tried watercolors, though.

Excellent pastel substrate for hard and soft pastels with wonderful background colors which will exhibit your work in the best light