As I work mostly in watercolour/gouache and pastel I don’t often pop over to this forum…but over the last couple of years I have been slowly (very slowly) trying to make a transition into painting with oil. I am used to working in watercolour on paper in a very loose intuitive way where my composition ‘evolves through my painting process’…. and am used to using a mat/mount as a compositional and editing tool. I would much prefer (initially anyway) to paint loosely and intuitively in oil on un-stretched canvas, and then crop the plaiting (or study) once dry before gluing onto a panel. Do any of you work in this way?

Since you wish to get into oil painting, might I suggest that you paint on paper either oil painting paper or prime some paper with gesso yourself, and tape the paper to a board. You then have the advantage of still using paper, can still crop the image if you wish and gain confidence in oil painting as well.

Hello everyone,

As I work mostly in watercolour/gouache and pastel I don’t often pop over to this forum…but over the last couple of years I have been slowly (very slowly) trying to make a transition into painting with oil. I am used to working in watercolour on paper in a very loose intuitive way where my composition ‘evolves through my painting process’…. and am used to using a mat/mount as a compositional and editing tool. I would much prefer (initially anyway) to paint loosely and intuitively in oil on un-stretched canvas, and then crop the plaiting (or study) once dry before gluing onto a panel. Do any of you work in this way?

Yes I do. Not often, but sometimes, and for the same reason: to paint loosely without worrying about a predetermined canvas size. The process is pretty simple and from your questions, you’re probably worrying a little too much about the details.

1. Would I buy primed un-stretched canvas on a roll…or can you prime canvas even when it is not attached to a solid support? What brands are better quality?

Like jmaris said, I don’t know if it’s practical to prime an unstretched piece of canvas, so for this method or working, it’ll be simplest if you buy a roll or pre-primed canvas. You can get acrylic primed, oil primed, single primed, double primed, canvas or linen, in a pretty wide price range. Since you’re still experimenting with oils, a less expensive acrylic single-primed canvas would be a good place to start.

2. What support is best for initially attaching loose canvas…tape? If so what kind works best? What support is best for this also?

I have a wall in my studio where I don’t have to worry about making a mess, so I just cut a piece of canvas from the roll and thumbtack it to the wall. I’ve read that Pierre Bonnard worked this way. Taping it down would also work and since you’ll be trimming it down to size later, I wouldn’t worry too much about what kind of tape. If you don’t have a wall to use, find a smooth board – hardboard, plywood, whatever, set that on your easel and tape the canvas to that. This is basically how Richard Schmid works en plein air – at least that’s how he does it in his DVDs. Also, I think Schmid has these canvases mounted on stretchers later, but gluing to a panel will also work.

3. Once you un-tape the canvas from the support to allow it to ‘dry’ can these paintings be hung on a line (like a washing line with pegs or something similar to dry or do they need to dry still taped to the support?

I let them dry still taped or tacked to the wall, so that the paint dries while the canvas is perfectly flat. Hanging them from a line would probably work, but if the canvas curls a bit and the paint drys that way, you’re introducing some stress when you flatten it out to glue to a panel later. That’s probably not a problem though, but it seems better to insure that they dry flat.

4. When the painting is dry can the composition be edited by cutting the canvas and oil paint…. in the same way I would edit a composition in watercolour by cropping down? If so what is the best way or utensil for cutting canvas that has paint on it?

You can easily cut through canvas and dry paint with a sharp utility knife. I would cut it with an extra 1/2 inch border all around, then do the final trimming after it you glue the canvas to a panel – that gives you a little margin for error.

5. Once the painting is dry, what is the best and most archival (non yellowing) glue to paste the canvas to a panel?

I settled on using an acrylic gel medium as a glue. It’s sold as a medium but works great as a glue and is completely archival (except for the fact that it’s not a reversible process if you ever want to remove the canvas.)

The trickiest thing with this whole process is gluing the canvas down to a panel and getting any air bubbles out, I use a rubber brayer to squeeze out any air bubbles, but if I have any thickly painted passages, I don’t like to press to hard with the brayer. But as long as you’re careful, it shouldn’t be a problem.

6. Would the panel have to be primed with anything…like Gac 100 or something to stop bleeding from masonite, luan or birch ply? Would the edges of the panel have to be sealed also if I were to frame in a floating frame with a small space between the frame and the panel?

To be safe, I do seal the board first with Gac 100. When using an acrylic gel medium for the glue, this may not be necessary, but I’d rather play it safe. I usually seal the panel edges too, hoping that that makes them a little more stable.

I’m sure there are many threads already covering these topics, and I would be very grateful if you could post links to the threads in any reply.

Thanking everyone in advance,

Maggie

Hope that helps.

Hi Maggie,
Joe has most of the answers in his post. I would go with any good quality pre-primed canvas…Fredricks is perfect. Tape it to whatever support you want while working on it. If you can, leave it taped at least until it is dry to touch. When it is completely dry you can cut it with a utility knife and a metal rular as a guide.
To play it safe I’d cut it just a tad oversized in case of any shrinkage when gluing to your board. Then when it is dry you can trim it again with a utility knife. They have some good glues at Judsons. Gamblin PVA…$10.00. Be careful when using the brayer against your painted surface but you have to get it flat. Normally, people who paint on unstretched canvas mount their paintings on stretcher boards and staple them so there is no worry about the surface…so be careful.
Luan, Birch and untempered Masonite do not bleed anything so there really is no need to seal them. If you use tempered masonite (the darker oil impregnated masonite) you will need to seal the glue-side surface and edges to keep the oil from leaching into the canvas eventually. How it gets through the PVA glue is a mystery to me but seal it to play it safe….or buy Untempered masonite.
Good luck Maggie,
Ron

Just fyi, if you google ‘Pierre Bonnard unstretched canvas’, you can find several references to his preference of painting on unstretched canvas pinned to the wall. Here’s a really good one with some photos of Bonnard in his studio with canvases pinned to the wall – follow the link for ‘stretched/unstretched’:
http://www.moma.org/exhibitions/1998/bonnard/perception_process/index.html