Gone are the days when the painters express their creativity on wood panels!
Renaissance marked the flowering of classical art on canvas, letting artists create larger paintings that are portable as well as more stable with reduced warping and cracking than a traditional wooden panel. Unfortunately, many of the painting novices do not realize that “CANVAS” is not just a catch-all for a stretched fabric over a frame, but something that can either make or break the painting’s overall quality.
So, when picking it, there are several matters to consider, such as fabric and texture. Before you indulge in a buying binge, take a deep dive into the types of artist canvas available for painting.
Stretched Canvas
This is the most convenient but the most pricey choice. It comes pre-stretched, usually fully primed and ready to paint once unwrapped.
These are available in various thicknesses – either deep or traditional. Of these, deep canvases have thick stretcher bars, while traditional ones have thinner stretcher bars.
The essential thing to consider here is the way you want your portrait to look on the wall. If you would like to frame it, get a traditional canvas. If you prefer an unframed painting, go either way.
Canvas Rolls
This is a time-consuming option as they require stretching on canvas stretcher frames.
It sounds like this: You have a roll of canvas, and you can take what you want, whenever you want! After cutting the canvas to the requisite size from the roll, it must be correctly mounted on stretcher bars to build your painting foundation.
That said, you don’t just have to stretch canvas rolls always. Some renowned artists like Jackson Pollock used to lay the canvas flat on the ground and paint!
Canvas Panels
If you are a beginner, try canvas panels, which are cheaper versions of stretched canvas.
In this, the canvas is pasted to a heavy-duty card or wooden pressboard panels. Although panels require framing after painting, they are less bulky to carry when traveling and so is recommended by art supplies specialists.
However, the downside is that canvas panels are not permanent and will degrade over time. Hence, they are used only for practice and is quite common among students.
Canvas Pads
Canvas pads contain sheets of spiral-bound primed canvas or canvas paper that are best for beginners or for practicing.
This is an inexpensive alternative. However, if durability is important to you, they should be best avoided as they can’t last for a long time.
Cotton Duck Canvas
These are the most common painting canvases that come in various thicknesses and weaves.
Usually, these are loosely woven, and the fabric can quickly distort if you are not careful enough while stretching.
You may use the weave of the canvas as part of the texture of your painting. Or else, you may fill in the sections with gesso to create a more regular painting surface.
Linen Canvas
Unlike cotton canvas, the threads of this are narrower, and the weave is tighter. Once stretched and primed, this canvas is less likely to shrink, or threads move or distort.
The non-prime linen canvas is very obvious as it is pale brown rather than white.
Portrait linen is a fine-textured linen canvas that is perfect for painting details.
You might now have decided on the type of canvas for your art. So, it’s time to create your masterpiece!
But a big decision is still there to make: what kind of paint should you use? For that, wait for the next article from Glowart – the renowned online art shop in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Gold Coast, Adelaide, Canberra, Darwin, Perth.