If you follow the advice of experts
and prepare your paintings
correctly, you will eliminate many
of the long-term problems and
disappointments experienced
by acrylic and oil painters.
Choosing supports is fundamental
to success. The support is the surface
on which you plan to paint. Supports
can be either rigid, such as wood or
masonite; or flexible, like paper or
canvas. If the paint film is to remain
intact, the support must have good
long-term stability and durability.
The main advantage of using
a rigid support is that it induces
less strain into the paint layers.
Therefore you need only concern
yourself with the movement of the
paint film itself, rather than with the
movement of both paint film and
support. You can use a wide variety
of supports for acrylics and oils – but
whatever you choose to paint on,
thorough preparation is essential.
Masonry surfaces used for mural
painting often contain free alkali
from the cement or plaster used,
and this can attack some pigments.
Wallboards made from woodpulp
may contain tannin which can bleed
through to the surface of the painting
years later, leaving a dark stain. If
you intend painting on wallboards,
pale coloured ones are preferred.
To prepare, coat the surface
with two coats of Atelier Binder
Medium to provide a tough flexible
seal coat. When this is dry thesurface is ready to be ‘gessoed’.
Atelier Gesso is made from acrylic
emulsion and contains titanium
for whiteness and calcite grit to
give ‘tooth’ for overpainting.
Canvas is by far the most popular
material but it is important for
you to know that there are major
differences in performance.
Cotton Duck is often used because
it is cheap, but it deteriorates in
around 20 years. Linen Canvas is
slightly more durable than cotton but
is not as robust as people think – its
main disadvantage is that like cotton,
linen fibres respond to changes in
humidity, swelling in humid weather
and shrinking in dry weather. Careful
ground preparation is essential.
Polyester Canvas is chemically
inert and does not deteriorate with
time. In this respect it is much
more durable than linen canvas.
Its main advantages are that it can
be bought in an off-white colour, it
does not react to water and does not
expand and contract with changing
temperature and humidity levels.
A stretched polyester canvas is
stable without the need of a humidity
controlled atmosphere. Additionally,
stretched polyester canvas can be
unrolled on the floor and will not
creep or shrink when worked on.
In many parts of the world,
temperature and humidity levels
change quite rapidly – causing
movement in any non-synthetic
canvas support. This is theChoosing supports CHROMA DISCUSSES THE RIGHT WAY TO CONSTRUCT A PAINTING
is fundamental
to success. The
support is the
surface on which
you plan to paint.
Supports can be
either rigid, such as
wood or masonite;
or flexible, like
paper or canvas.Buyer’s Guide