Preparing Canvases

[Tarique Beg]

Hi folks

I have been reading books on preparing canvases, and getting quite confused. It seems like it's very complicated with applying several coatings to prevent oil leakage and the ravages of time, dampness, heat, separation of layers of paint or primer problems, removing air bubbles, letting the canvass dry for six months etc. on, and on..

If my medium is oil on linen or canvas, what is a good compromise solution. Is there a quicker way to prepare canvas/linen? What brands to buy? and how to prime it properly so that there is no leakage of oil through the canvas and no damage to the paint layers from behind. And finally, how do you apply the paint ideally?

I remember about 30 years ago reading John Howard Sanden's book, in which he describes his painting wet-into-wet technique in which you finish the painting in one layer while it is still wet for maximum permanence.

Are there any ready-made pre-primed canvases available? and if so what are good brands?

What do most portrait artists here do in this regard?

Any suggestions, such as good books, art stores in the San Fran or California area, etc. will be highly appreciated?

Thanks

[Mary Reilly]

Fredrix has pre-primed linen that solves the problem of being sure to prime it properly. The 2 that I like the best are 111Rix and 125 Kent. You buy it by the roll and all you have to do is stretch it. When you stretch it, make sure that you pull it really tight because the linen has a tendency to sag if it isn't pulled tight enough. You'll need a canvas pliers to facilitate stretching the canvas, and I recommend spending the extra money and getting a good one. I avoided paying the extra money for quite some time and when I finally purchased the pricey one I couldn't believe how much easier it is to work with.

Hope this information helps.

[Tarique Beg]

Mary, thanks for the info. I'll check all this out and also remember to get good quality canvas pliers.

Thanks,
Tarique

[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.

[Virgil Elliott]

The jury is still out on whether or not acrylic emulsion grounds (called "acrylic gesso") will prove suitable for oil paintings on stretched canvas in the long run, but acrylic paints do not have enough tooth to provide good adhesion for oil paints applied over them. They will appear to work all right for awhile, but will be prone to delaminating in later years, after the oil paint layer loses some of its flexibility.

As part of my selective editing policy of destroying my worst pictures, I once tore a painting in half that had acrylic underpainting overpainted in oils, and as I ripped the canvas, the oil paint layer cleanly separated from the acrylic underpainting. It was obviously poorly adhered, and would have come off at some point whether I'd torn the canvas or not. This painting was seven years old at the time. Needless to say, I never again underpainted in acrylic. Some extremely knowledgeable conservators and conservation scientists in my acquaintance have expressed concerns that acrylic grounds (primers, acrylic "gesso") may also prove problematic in the long run on oil paintings done on stretched canvas. On panel, it may prove to be all right, but it is too early to say with certainty at this point. I have also had a demonstration painting delaminate at the interface between the acrylic ground and the layer of oil ground I had applied over it some months before, which was enough to convince me to stick with oil grounds. I also decided to stop painting anything important to me on stretched canvas. I now mount my canvas on a rigid panel.

[Mary Reilly]

Virgil,

What is the reason you prefer not to use stretch canvas even if it is oil ground? Also, what do you use for a rigid panel - masonite or something else, and how do you adhere the canvas to the panel?

Thanks in advance for your answers,

[Tarique Beg]

Karin, I once read that Gainsborough (I hope I spelled that right), had perfected his portrait painting methods to the point that he was extremely prolific. Apparently, he would paint the face, hands, and take care of the general composition, and his minions would then fill in all the drapery and other stuff which he would finish off. Anyway, his paintings still have an unusual brilliance (I read) because he used to store his incompleted paintings in vats of ice, that slowed the drying time of the oil so that he could work while the paint was wet.

As I understand (I'm not a pro), that if the paint dries between several applications, then you end up with several layers, that may expand or contract at different rates with time. Then cracks appear in your paintings, which is why many of the old masters who did that now have cracked paintings. Not Gainsborough (I read). Glazing, was supposed to be a more permanent method, I guess that is what you use Karin, I was reading about your technique.

Virgil, I too read that painting oil on top of acrylic and other mediums ended up in the oil layer having a different coefficient of expansion /contraction with changing weather and temperature, compared to the acrylic layer, which is why it separated.

Does anyone here paint portraits with acrylic. Is oil the preferred medium because that's what clients want. Do they feel that perhaps acrylic is not the real thing. One thing about oil is that I found it easier to blend and get softer effects compared to Acrylic which sometimes dries to fast for me. I imagine acrylic on and acrylic priming should not cause the layers to separate (am I right ??).

Mary, about the pre-primed canvass or Belgian linen that you mentioned. Is that primed for oil paintings ? How does one prime for oil. I'm still quite confused about all the details. There's a whole lot of stuff about rabbit's glue and how you water proof the canvass/linen from behind to prevent dampness getting through etc. Let the layer of primer dry for six months, sand paper out bubbles, then the Gainsborough wet in wet single paint layer technique, and the very sparing use of linseed oil to keep colours saturated to the maximum and to avoid the yellowing of paintings (like many old masters, who apparently used a lot of linseed).

In general, I've been reading a lot about how mixing media and multiple layers of different medias all lead to cracking and general impermanence of the painting.

Sometimes I wonder if oil has all these problems why don't most artists simply go for acrylic ? I read that glazing with acrylic can also get you a very permanent and luminous painting. Probably, with enough practise and drying retardent, it should be possible to get the same effect with acrylic as with oil.

Comments ?

In fact, sometimes I feel it's so complex

[Virgil Elliott]

Mary,

Oil paint layers on stretched canvas are prone to cracking when they get old, as canvas is not rigid, and oil paints lose their flexibility after a number of years, usually 50 to 100, depending on several factors. Notice that panel paintings 500 years old in museums generally show little or no cracking of the paint layer, whereas paintings on canvas 100-200 years old show more pronounced cracking unless mounted on a rigid panel. Stretched canvas grows slack, and the paint stiffens in that position, then someone restretches it or keys out the stretchers, and the paint cracks. I'm not saying this always happens, but too frequently it does. By mounting the canvas on a panel, we get the pleasing texture of canvas to paint on, and avoid or greatly mitigate the possibility of cracking centuries later. I use Artist Panels by John Annesley Company, in Healdsburg, California. Everything John makes is top quality.

[Virgil Elliott]

Tarique,

Most of the yellowing we see in old paintings is the varnish, not in the paint, unless the artist has added resins to the paint, or oils boiled with driers. The yellowing of linseed oil bleaches out in the light, and disappears unless the painting is kept in the dark.

Oil paint is still the ultimate artist's medium, despite the eventual embrittlement, as it gives the artist the greatest range of light and dark, color saturation, transparency and opacity choices, plus sufficient working time to refine the images to the highest degree if desired. Acrylics do not allow as high a pigment load, dry too fast, and dry to a different value when they dry than they are when wet. I consider acrylics a commercial art medium, where the fast drying allows the picture to be shipped minutes after the last stroke has been applied.

You will find that there is a lot of incorrect information being passed around as fact, including in books, and it can be very misleading and very confusing. The most reliable book currently in print on artists' materials is The Painter's Handbook by Mark D. Gottsegen. I am writing one myself, at the urging of many people, but I cannot say when it will be published, as I put painting first. I recommend you buy Mark's book, and refer to it when you have doubts or questions about art materials. He is the Chairman of the ASTM Subcommittee on Artists' Materials, of which I am also a member.

Administrator's Note:
The Painter's Handbook can be purchased online from Amazon.com by clicking on this title.

[Tarique Beg]

Virgil,

Thanks for the information. I'll check out that book you mention. I guess all I need is one reliable reference book.

I checked out John Annesley Company, in Healdsburg, California on Mapquest, someday I'll drive up there (I'm in Morgan Hill, about 2 hours south).

Any suggestions on how to apply oil. Are multiple layers OK? or is is better to finish off the painting in one layer? Also, are there any varnishes that don't yellow the painting? What about painting without linseed oil? is it better to just use the oil in the paints themselves rather than adding extra linseed? Finally, what about not varnishing, if I am concerned about yellowing. Sometimes I find that the darker colours in oil painting seem to get chalky (maybe I was just using cheap colours or don't know how to apply them correctly).