Artists Stretched Canvas - Art Canvas

Artists Blank Stretched Canvas and Stretcher Bars designed to help artists to create art to a high standard. There are many makes and manufacturers of relatively cheap canvases for painting on the market today. We sell art canvas in pairs or bulk box quantities, exclusively stocking the brand new range of Britannia 'Standard' (19mm) and 'Deep-Edge' (38mm) artists canvas.

How To Prepare an Un-primed Canvas for Painting

Most stretched canvas today comes primed and ready to paint. However, cotton-duck - often supplied on a roll - may be un-prepared and would have to be primed to prevent the paint from soaking into the material.

Preparing a canvas to be painted on is known by artists as 'grounding'. The most common type of grounding primer is 'gesso', this was traditionally made for animal parts and is also known as 'rabbit-glue'. Some artists use emulsion paint as a primer, however, this is frowned upon in the art world.

Oils or acrylic paints will adhere to almost any surface, but it is important to remember that the paint will only be as good as the foundation that you lay for it. If you apply a coat of gesso and you find that it is beading up then you probably have a surface that is dirty or is not compatible with the primer. Cleaning the material with mineral turpentine, mentholated spirits or sanding the surface lightly; and using a coat of clear sealer, may prevent this from happening.

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