Tuesday, March 24, 2015

Using a canvas pad


12 x 16 inches oil
    A way to save space and money, if you paint a lot, is to use unstretched canvas.  Canvas pads are a handy surface to work on.  Fredrix  is my favorite brand, it has a nice texture and can be stretched over wood stretcher bars very easily.  Utrecht is also a very good brand,  has a texture truer to canvas but is a bit more stretchy than Fredrix.
    If you do not plan to stretch the canvas, another surface I like is Canson Canva-paper this one is good for applying to a wood panel, the surface is slightly more absorbent than regular canvas.  For large paintings, canvas roles are great.

   What I like about the pads is you can paint a ton of paintings and not have to fill every corner of your home with paintings.  I have a simple way to let these oil paintings dry without filling up the studio, I pin them to a cork board with tacks till they are dry enough to decide what I want to do with them.
Seven paintings drying!

   Also, I can easily work on more than one painting at the same time, by taping the canvas to a board.
   In this case I worked on two ideas for the same painting, at the same time, comparing them side by side.
    Also, these can be cropped to a different size.  One of these may end up a smaller version, ( I have not decided yet, but it is an option).
,
Just thought I would share some more tips with you, hope you enjoyed them.
Mary
Schiros-art