Preparing Canvases

[Karin Wells]

Frankly, I don't buy anything but acrylic pre-primed linen (and sometimes cotton) canvas. You can paint directly on to this surface without any fuss.

Sometimes I want to add another layer of gesso to get the surface a little smoother, so I use any decent brand of acrylic gesso and apply it with a disposable foam brush (from the hardware store). Recently I have been experimenting with Holbein's colored gesso and like it a lot.

I don't use oil primed canvas because I like to avoid leaded paint. Also, if you have an oil primed surface, you are limited to only using oil in your upper layers of paint. I like the option of using a fast drying acrylic sketch underneath my oils.

Sometimes purchasing raw linen or canvas can be tricky. I have had problems with "pinholes." I even broke a stretcher once when the linen I had just primed suddenly shrunk to an extreme. I like to keep it simple and if at all possible, I buy the pre-primed stuff as I am always impatient to start the actual painting right away!

I have never heard what you said about the permanence of keeping your painting wet until the end....I do know that many of the Old Masters painted in layers that dried in between and it didn't seem to affect their longevity.

Good luck.