Did the Claessen's have rabbit hide glue?

Thanks anyway, Sharon!

A few odds and ends to add.

Marvin, liquid lead is the one, to be most careful of health wise. It

My canvas experiences....
 

I am glad this post got started. I am still in this forever ending search for the right feeling canvas...

For a while during my days of trying to do what Schmid did, I tried doing the lead white on panel, lead white on canvas, etc. That produced nothing but slippery painting surface for me, I don't know how Richard did it... he doesn't use that anymore though. He doesn't have the time or energy to prepare his own canvas anymore. I tried the Williamsburg Lead and its too slippery for me.

So then I tried Soho's Indian Linen with white lead priming. I really liked everything about this canvas except it was a little to thin and the lead yellowed REALLY fast. I should probably try their Belgian linen and have it DP'd with lead... I wanted to see if they would tone the canvases as well.

I have been using Claessens Oil Primed forever... 66DP, 13DP 15DP you name it, I have used it. Works good but still no there yet to what I want. Plus I like to work on toned canvases so buying premade canvas was out of the question for that.

So I talked to Morgan Weistling on the phone the other day and he suggested to do what he does. He uses Acrylic primed Claessens and then tones it with regular liquitex acrylic paint. Burnt Umber and and a touch of Cobalt Blue. Produces a greenish tone and I painted on a swatch he sent me and wallah! It produced the feel I wanted for the alla prima method I use. Not sure how it will be for glazing the longer pieces I do though. Might be too absorbent.

Anyhow, I am still looking for the right canvas for all around.

The quest continues!

Tony

P.S. I have been wanting to call Mr. Doak for a while but am a little nervous.. its like calling Gandalf of the painting world.

Tony et al,

I have become increasingly enamored with very smooth surfaces. I have also found the Claessen's (and a few others) are too slippery and greasy for me to deal with. Nontheless, I love the very smooth grounds they offer in terms of being able to really get tiny detail.

I now use the www.NewTraditionsartpanels.com , L-600 pretty much all the time. Out of the box, it is way too slick for me. I have (compliments of Rob Howard, www.studioproducts.com) now learned to work a first layer, be it toner or paint, in the Studio Products Underpainting medium. The medium dries almost immediately, and yields a surface that is uniformly matte, and that has a bit of tooth. It prepares a slick surface beautifully for the next coat of paint. I use it as well when I paint in oil, on Wallis paper.

Chris

Have you tried working alla prima on this? Is too slick for that. I am intrigued by this seller. Have not heard of them before now and it looks like they all the good linens. Dave Davis.. which Richard (Schmid) uses... interesting.

Tony

I use the Claessens 13DP for everything and find it works just fine painting alla prima. It's not too slippery for me and I have no trouble covering it with one fairly thin coat of paint. Personal preference, I guess!

Tony,

The only all prima work I seem to do anymore, is the open studio stuff. I wouldn't try to work on a slick surface that hasn't been toned with the underpainting medium.