working on Neighborhoods

My contemporary folk art paintings all begin with layers of thick gesso (I like Utrecht's gesso) on wallpaper. Wallpaper is on the left hand side, gesso-ed wallpaper on the right. I started painting this way years ago when a friend dropped off some wallpaper sample books. Experimenting with them, I found that I loved the added softness that the wallpaper gave my paintings. Every now and then (actually just this fall) I can't resist buying canvas'. But I'm never happy with the end result.