A cool surface for painting

I was looking for an unusual surface to use for creating a Make-It-Take-It and I wanted to use Genesis Heat-Set oils to do the project. In a very old book, I saw a project that had been painted in oils on a piece of cork--the AH-HA moment!! I had some 6x6 cork tiles in my studio just waiting for inspiration to strike. One of the issues with Genesis is that whatever surface you use must be able to be heated to a temperature of 265-degrees and I was not sure about cork. The good news is that cork works very well. Because there is some texture on the surface, it is a little trickier to paint. On the other hand, if you choose the right subject, the texture enhances your painting. It is not necessary to do any preparation to the surface before painting. To give the piece a little more character, I rouged a little color on the corners and down the sides of the piece. Here is my Genesis MITI. I cut the 6x6 tile down to 3x6. When the piece was finished, I glued it to a 5x8 piece of black mat board. The piece can then be placed in a 5x8 frame for hanging. I hope the people at the retreat like this piece as much as I do. It will be a good introduction to Genesis.