Trekell Pro Team Artist, "Greg "Craola" Simkins, documents his journey for his latest exhibit "Where Am I?" from the start of panel making at the Trekell factory all the way up to the opening of his show.

"I have been blessed and lucky enough to work with Trekell for many years now and I am always blown away at how obsessed they are with making the best quality product for artists. They truly do care about what goes into the tools they design and deliver to us and I have the utmost respect for them. When the topic of painting surfaces came up, I gave them my criteria to what I like to work on and they immediately went to work to replicate the panels that my Dad, George, has been making for me for many years. They even sat down with him to hear his outlook on what does and doesn’t work when making panels to paint on. That’s where the G.H.Simkins Panels came from. They are light weight and sturdy and look nice enough to hang directly on a wall even without a frame.
When I told Trekell that I had a solo show coming up, the idea arose to film the entire life cycle of the largest painting for the show which became “Where Am I”. We wanted to document the piece starting with the stretching of the Linen over the panel which would become the enormous 8 foot by 6 foot beast in my show. Our field trip took us to the Trekell warehouses which felt a little bit like Willy Wonkas’ Chocolate factory to me. Watching the brushes get made and seeing the stacks of panels just ready to be painted filled my head with ideas. With the helpful eye of my dad we got about it and stretched the largest of the canvas wrapped panels for the show. Once all the canvases had been delivered, it was my turn to turn it into what you see in this video.
The Trekell portrait linen wrapped panels are by far the best surfaces I have ever painted on. They are sturdy and can take a beating, they have a great surface for precision painting and they clean up with a nice side and look great on a wall, even unframed. We hope you enjoy this process video of the creation of “Where Am I” and look forward to your feedback on your experience with this great surface."
-Greg “Craola” Simkins

http://www.trekell.com/Linen-Wrapped-...