Discover Ampersand Art Supply, now available at Gordon Harris!
We're excited to welcome Ampersand Art Supply to our range, bringing artists a collection of premium painting panels designed for exceptional performance, versatility and longevity.
Whether you're a watercolourist, acrylic or oil painter, illustrator or mixed media artist, Ampersand offers a range of specially prepared surfaces that open up new possibilities for your work.
What Makes Ampersand Different?
Founded in 1993, Ampersand Art Supply began with a simple goal: to make high-quality painting panels more accessible to artists. Its first product, Claybord, introduced artists to a smooth, absorbent clay-coated surface that could be painted, scratched and reworked in ways traditional supports couldn't easily accommodate.
Today, Ampersand is known for its innovative range of artist panels, each developed with a unique surface texture and level of absorbency to suit different mediums and techniques.
Unlike stretched canvas, Ampersand's rigid panels don't flex under pressure, giving artists greater control over their brushwork and allowing for everything from delicate details to thick, expressive applications of paint.
The smooth, stable surfaces also help colours appear brighter, without the texture of canvas competing with the artwork.
Built to Last
One of Ampersand's defining features is its patented Archiva Seal technology, used across its Museum Series panels.
This specialised sealing process creates a barrier between the wooden panel and the painting surface, preventing naturally occurring acids and tannins in the wood from migrating into the artwork and causing discolouration over time.
Combined with carefully selected, stable materials, Ampersand panels are designed to provide artists with a reliable, archival-quality foundation for their work.
Find Your Perfect Surface
Not all painting surfaces are created equal! Ampersand offers a selection of panels, each with different characteristics to complement your preferred medium and painting style.
Gessobord – For Acrylic and Oil Painters
Looking for a smooth, reliable alternative to canvas?
Ampersand Gessobord features a professional-grade acrylic gesso surface with a subtle eggshell texture, providing just enough tooth for excellent brush control without interfering with fine details.
Ideal for acrylics and oils, Gessobord accommodates everything from thin washes and delicate blending to heavy impasto and palette knife techniques. Its rigid construction makes it particularly well suited to detailed painting, portraiture and mixed media applications.
Aquabord – A New Way to Work with Watercolour
Ampersand Aquabord offers watercolour artists an exciting alternative to traditional paper.
Its absorbent, textured clay surface allows watercolours to flow beautifully while maintaining their vibrancy. Unlike watercolour paper, Aquabord also allows artists to repeatedly lift dried colour using water and a brush, making it easier to create highlights, refine details and make adjustments.
It's an excellent surface for experimenting with transparent washes, glazing and detailed watercolour techniques.
For artists working with GOLDEN QoR Watercolours, Aquabord is a particularly exciting pairing!
Claybord – Smooth, Versatile and Full of Possibilities
The original Ampersand panel, Claybord, features an ultra-smooth, highly absorbent white clay surface.
It's ideal for ink, detailed illustration, egg tempera and mixed media techniques. One of its most distinctive features is the ability to scratch or lift pigment away from the surface, revealing the white underneath to create highlights and intricate details.
Another significant advantage over traditional paper is the ability to frame artwork without glass. With an appropriate fixative applied over graphite, ink or other suitable media, artwork created on Claybord can be displayed without the need for protective glazing, allowing viewers to appreciate the surface and fine details without reflections.
From delicate linework to experimental mixed media, Claybord offers a unique combination of precision, versatility and presentation options.
Scratchbord – Create Art by Revealing the Surface
For something a little different, Ampersand Scratchbord begins with a black India ink coating over a white clay surface.
Rather than building an image by adding colour, artists use scratch tools to remove the black coating and reveal the white beneath.
The result is striking, highly detailed artwork with beautiful contrasts and textures.
Artists can also add coloured inks to scratched areas and rework their designs using black repair ink, offering greater flexibility than traditional paper-based scratchboard.
Scratchbord artwork can also be framed without glass once appropriately fixed. This is a fantastic advantage for artists wanting to display intricate scratchboard illustrations without reflections or glass separating the viewer from the artwork.
Pastelbord – Designed to Hold Every Layer
Ampersand Pastelbord features a textured marble-dust surface that grips dry pigments beautifully.
Ideal for soft pastels, hard pastels, charcoal and coloured pencils, its unique tooth allows artists to build up multiple layers of colour while maintaining excellent pigment adhesion.
Because it's a rigid panel, Pastelbord also supports wet techniques. Artists can experiment with acrylic washes, inks and blending techniques to create unique effects or prepare their own coloured grounds.
One example is the Muenzenmayer technique, where diluted acrylic paint is applied to a damp Pastelbord surface, allowing colours to spread and blend organically.
Artist Panel Primed Smooth – A Versatile, Affordable Option
For artists who prefer an exceptionally smooth surface, Ampersand Artist Panel Primed Smooth offers a versatile and economical option.
Its smooth acrylic gesso ground is suitable for acrylics, oils, graphite, calligraphy, collage and mixed media.
It's also a great choice for airbrushing, fine-detail work and mounting photographs or prints.
Why Try Painting on a Panel?
If you've always worked on canvas or paper, switching to a rigid panel can offer a surprisingly different painting experience.
With no canvas weave or surface movement to work around, panels provide greater control over your marks, whether you're creating fine details, blending smooth transitions or building up thick layers of paint.
Certain Ampersand surfaces also offer exciting presentation possibilities. With appropriate fixation and finishing, artwork created on Claybord, Scratchbord and Aquabord can be displayed without glass, making them particularly appealing for artists who want to avoid reflections and showcase their work more directly.
And with Ampersand's range of specially developed surfaces, you can choose a panel that works with your medium rather than against it.
Discover Ampersand at Gordon Harris
We're delighted to bring Ampersand Art Supply to New Zealand artists and can't wait to see what you create with these innovative surfaces.
Whether you're looking to explore a new technique or simply find the perfect foundation for your next artwork, there's an Ampersand panel worth discovering.
Explore the Ampersand range online or visit your local Gordon Harris store to find the right surface for your next project.