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My first larger scale (approx 70cm x 1m)
shellac and bitumen on plywood experiment. I started painting shellac, following the grain. Then filled in parts with bitumen.
Bitumen over shellac is making some nice purples and good contrasts. And layers of bitumen is getting cool tones.

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Testing shellac and bitumen paint.
The shellac repels most of the bitumen, so it kinda fills in the spaces. Both seep into the grain a bit, a lot when I make them run.
I can get a decent range of colour too.

Playing around, carving my new 7 ply, with 2 hardwood layers, that was kindly donated by my partner's folks. They wanted to get rid of it anyway. One piece is 1200 x 2400. Score. Because the grain crosses between layers, I can chip each layer like this.

I sand blasted it and came out better than I expected. It ate into the softer parts, giving more definition between fibers. Kinda how drift wood looks. It's made lots of detail I wouldn't be able to carve. Could be great on larger scales.

I bought some shellac yesterday on Paul recommendation. So I started shellacking the hell out of everything. It's cool stuff, made from beetle shells, cheaper than varnish, and easy to thin out or thicken.

Another shellacked piece of ply. I was drawing a portrait, but wasn't working, so sanded it off. The hardwood part is good enough; there are variation in colour, knots, and it's been seasoned out side for a couple of years. I can take whole layers of ply off to make it look like a hardwood panel, which I'm going to do for at least 1 major work.