Hi, Joan.

Thanks for your input. As I said earlier, I don't stretch my own canvas (or grind my own colors) and haven't felt the need for it. My paintings already take a certain amount of preparation: photo sessions, selection of reference material, preparation of palette, and just plain thinking about the proposed work and its composition, so I don't want to introduce one more step that would take time away from the actual execution of the portrait.

Stretching canvas seems to appeal to some people and not to others, too. But you're right, if imperfections began to be a big problem I'd probably start thinking differently.