FeatureCHROMA DISCUSSES THE RIGHT WAY TO CONSTRUCT A PAINTINGIf 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 the surface 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 humiditycontrolled 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 the principal cause
of cracking in older oil paintings.
It is also important to consider
essential grounds for acrylics and
oils. Grounds are products used
to prepare a surface painting.
Effective grounds should have
good adhesion to the painting surface,
particularly for canvas or boards. They
should be flexible, have suitable ‘tooth’
for overpainting and create a good
sealing barrier between the painting
surface and subsequent layers of paint.
Prepared surfaces such as ‘canvas
boards’ may be too absorbent to
be pleasant to work on; and can
be vastly improved by applying
a coat of Atelier Gesso.
Acrylic grounds offer the best
possible support for subsequent
application of oil paint. They also
prevent penetration of oil into
cotton or linen canvas; which may
rot, due to acid attack. Acrylic
grounds offer a layer of ‘shock
absorption’ between the substrate
and successive layers of oil paint.
Although acrylics can be applied