Hi Craig, welcome to WC! and the Studio Tips forum.

Most canvas boards are fairly inexpensive and intended for studies or student work and are not made to last. They won’t exactly fall apart overnight but they’re not really suitable for serious work as they have a core of cheap cardboard, wrapped in cotton canvas.

There are canvas panels, particularly one or two made by a few higher-end makers, which are a different proposition entirely. These are based on acid-free boards or panel materials and the canvas can be of much better quality, sometimes linen, adhered with archival glues. Some of these are oil-primed so they’re really for working in oils or something similar, not acrylics.

Einion

Fredrix sells Belgian linen glued to hardboard panels, but all that I’ve seen are acrylic primed. They make oil primed linen in rolls too, so they may have that as an option as well.

Hey Craig.

Another company that makes a great archival canvas panel is Raymar. Their website is http://www.raymarart.com – the panels are made of hardboard and the back is coated with a gray melamine to prevent moisture and it makes a nice attractive backing to the board as well. They offer acrylic primed canvas panels (for use with oil or acrylic) and oil primed panels for oil paintings.

I use these panels for my plein air work and they are really great. Another fine company is http://www.canvaspanels.com (Sourcetek) , but they are a bit more expensive.

Justin

To add to Richard’s post, search for Marc Hanson in the PA forum. He has an excellent step by step post on making panels. Most people use non-tempered masonite, then glue the fabric of their choice to the panel. You need either a band saw, saber saw or a table saw. You can also just gesso the panel and paint directly on that. Some people use Elmers glue, rabbit skin glue or acrylic medium. I’ve used the acrylic medium and it works great! but it isn’t cheap. With Elmers glue, you will need to cut your panels and fabric. Then put your glue on, start from the middle and go out, then lay on your fabric. Use wax paper between each panel. Put the stack of panels on a solid flat surface then weight it down with a something heavy. Elmers will take a lot longer than 24 hours to dry in this manor. The only thing I left out was to lightly sand the board and clean it with acetone (I think it’s acetone, alcohol should work too) before you glue it. It is good to use a roller of some kind, the kind they use for rolling ink on a carving to make a print works great. After you have waited 48 to 72 hours for the Elmers to dry, seperate the boards, they will still want to stick together. Then use a small 3″ roller or brush and gesso each panel. After it has dried, lightly sand it, then gesso again. Repeat until you have 3 coats of gesso. Lightly sand the last coat and then trim the canvas with a safety razor or sharp knife. You can tone the last coat of gesso if you want. It doesn’t take long to make these and you can create odd shapes for what ever composition you want. I’ve also used white erase boards, and glued the canvas to the back side of the board. 1/4″ plywood will work and so does MDF board. I can’t promise they will have a super long life expectancy, but they will work.

I prefer to paint on a covered board than stretched canvas. The board provides a solid support, and they can’t be quickly cut off a stretcher by a thief, rolled up and taken away. If someone pushes on it, the canvas doesn’t buldge, and if someone were to slash at it with a knife, it wont leave a gaping hole. Some worst case senerios there…:)

Don

…Also I have a REALLY novice question. I buy pre-stretched canvases and they come with these little wood bits in a bag. Any idea what they’re for? I was guessing its something to do with securing the canvas to an easel…

If the canvas gets slack, it can be tightened by tapping the little wood pieces into the inside corners of the stretcher bars.

Richard

Since we’re on the subject, does anyone here use cotton duck material to staple to a wood frame for a painting surface? When gesso’d, it is nearly the same as canvas material. Your thoughts?

Ohhhh… wow, I didn’t know. Thanks for your reply Einion.

Ok now, I have a confession. Ready?

Lately, I have been priming my canvases with white interior primer paint (rather than gesso)… then I sand it lightly when dry to get a smooth surface. Trashy? Maybe. It seems to be working. Anyone else here tried the “redneck canvas fix”?:D