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Sharon, there are commercially lead primed canvases available. What led you to believe that this is the case? New York Central Artists' Supplies and Soho Artists' Supplies, both located in New York City, sell them. I'm currently working on a portrait and I'm using a portrait grade linen purchased from Soho.
I bought unprimed linen from Mr. Doak as well as lead primer and a bottle of pure liquid lead to add to the primer. It's still sitting in my closet. The thought of dealing with liquid lead and all the negative health implications really freaked me out. The liquid lead must be added to the primer for the one month cure time to be valid. It's not practical for me to prepare a canvas one year in advance.
I also bought five hundred dollars worth of paint. His paint is ground in walnut oil and it was just too slow drying for my purposes. He prefers to use very transparent pigments that are geared toward the Venetian technique. Again not well suited for my purposes.
I did purchase a book from him, "The Secret of The Old Masters" by Albert Abendschein. This book opened my eyes to the problems of using all sorts of mediums and advocates the use of unadulterated linseed oil. This one book has had a tremendously profound effect on my approach to painting so I consider the $500 well spent..
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