Once I started really getting into creating art on birch wood panels, I noticed that they not only came in the typical rectangular and square formats, but also circular. But It took me a while to finally do one.
I was visiting family back in April in the Toronto area. I decided to pay a visit to DeSerres, an art store. If say it was a person, it would be casted as a crucial supporting role in my career as an artist.
This art shop was the place I went to pick up my very first Micron pens back in 2017. Little did I know on that gloomy winter day, that this visit would change the trajectory of my life.
After getting hooked on this new style of illustrating, I became a bit of a regular at this DeSerres. It’s where I first discovered wood panels to begin with, browsing their wide selection of canvases and tucked in the corner, birch wood panels.
Back to April 2026, I was pleasantly surprised to find them tucked into the corner of the store, like they were some nine years prior, were wood panels of every size one could dream of.
Typically, I order wood panels online, through DeSerres themselves, as no one locally stocks them. But there’s something special about getting to pick your own right in store. Quality control is right there in my hands, which I love, but also as panels get larger, the more expensive they are to ship, so being able to save on the shipping costs is a great bonus.
That was the main goal of this early April’s trip, to buy some big panels. And although that definitely happened, my eyes made contact with the roundies. It hit me like reliving an old memory, or seeing and old friend for the first time after years apart.
I selected an 18 inch and a 24 inch (if I remember correctly) diameter panels, excited to finally try out this new thing. As I’m typing this now, it sounds kinda silly, how a different shaped piece of wood can evoke so much feeling, but it is exciting. Probably because there is a mystery to it. How it will turn out, what I can create from it, and also, what this change could possibly do for the future.
A little over a month later, I started on the smaller of the rounds, and drew inspiration from my first illustration of 2021 – Red Island Sun – which hangs on my studio wall.
I’ve done different variations of this concept in the past, including a few on larger rectangular wood panels with some loons in the foreground. It felt only natural as I was pulled into creating this piece. It’s simple and bold with its high contrast silhouettes. But also, the wood grain in what became the sky adds so much to this piece as well.
That’s why I love painting on wood panels – the panel itself adds to piece. And the shape – well maybe its just the novely of it all right now, but the round edge just gives it something else, a gentleness that I feel that only the rounded curve can provide.
The Loon Around, is what I decided to name it. It kind of doesn’t make sense, and that’s sort of the point. It’s a feeling, and I’m loving it.
Trying new things, even when it isn’t a massive departure than what you normally do can do wonders – that’s what I have been encountering. And often, I forget about this. The key word I think is Impermanence. Everything is temporary. Moments, things, art, life. After some time, we get used to things, and the special-ity of it all slowly rubs away.
And that’s natural. Introducing a switch in an element or two however, encourages growth of new branches – branches which can lead to who knows what.
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Thanks for reading!
I’ve enjoyed writing this, and I know my consistency with writing these blogs and newsletters is abysmal. Truthfully, I would like to do this more often. Get into the nitty gritty of being an artist, and all the emotions of it all.
Instead of promising that I will be consistent at it like I have in the past, I will show up whenever it happens.
Hope you have a pleasant day, evening or night, depending what time of day you read this
- Konrad