For our return to the most famous paintings ever laid down on canvas, we step back only a relatively short amount of time, to the 20th Century. The 1900’s were a wild and exciting time in the world of art, with dozens upon dozens of new techniques, styles and ideas attempted, some more successfully than others. Here are eight of the most famous works ever done on canvas from the 1900’s, a century of great art if ever there was one.

1900-1950

Seven years after the turn of the century, Austrian Symbolist Gustav Klimt used gold leaf and a gorgeous golden, red and green color palette to create the massively popular painting known as The Kiss. This massively reprinted painting measures nearly two meters by two meters and depicts two lovers engaged in a kiss upon a bed of grass and flowers.

For the surrealist fans out there, The Persistence of Memory by Dalí is often considered the holy grail of that school of work. Dalí’s highly repeated melting clock image was first introduced in this 1931 painting, which is actually rather small at 24 x 33 centimeters and is currently on display in The MOMA in New York City.

Painted in the very next year, we have Picasso’s highly regarded Le Rêve, a controversial work depicting a woman in an erotic pose distorted as many of Picasso’s works were. The work was famously sold for $48.4 million in 1997 when the highly regarded Ganz art-collecting family needed money to settle an inheritance tax bill. This surprised the art world and made the work the 6th most expensive painting of all time at the time of its purchase.

Ending our entries from the first half of the century is another Picasso painting, perhaps more well-known than Le Rêve, a huge 3.5 x 7.75 meter painting known as Guernica. Picasso painted Guernica in 1937 after hearing of a vicious bombing of the Spanish town of Guernica during the Spanish Civil War. The oil on canvas work is meant to show the horrors of war and has become a very strong symbol for the anti-war movement.

1950-2000

Marking a huge departure in style and technique from anything that had come before, and any other painting on this list, we start the second half of the 20th Century with Jackson Pollock’s polarizing Number 1, 1950, more commonly known as Lavender Mist. Unlike any other painting on this list, Lavender Mist features oil paint poured directly onto unstretched, unprimed raw canvas.

As hard as it might be to pick iconic artist Andy Warhol’s most famous work, in the end it simply has to be his depictions of pop culture figure Marilyn Monroe, the most famous of which is called Marilyn Diptych. This 1962 painting is the only one on our list painted with acrylic silkscreen paints, which were used to create fifty portraits of Marilyn on one piece of canvas, half in color and half in black and white. The work was completed only weeks after the actress had died, and the photo it is based on is from the 1953 film Niagra.

Next we take a look at Magritte’s 1964 surrealist work called The Son of Man. This instantly recognizable oil painting of a man in a suit with a bowler hat and a green apple in front of his face is a cultural icon so prominent that it has been featured or referenced in multiple, and TV shows and music videos, including The Thomas Crown Affair, Michael Jackon’s “Scream,” The Simpsons and Jodorowsky’s Holy Mountain.

And finally, after sifting through centuries of works, we come to the one that has most recently become famous, partly due to its recent completion, partly to its controversial subject, and partly to the article written about it in 2011. This is Sexual Explosion by Jim Warren, painted in 1976 in oils. The work shows a nude woman whose body is crack and exploding while she sits in an ocean, with clouds and light around her. Though the painting is certainly famous, it should be noted that the painting has grown in fame recently due to a group known as the Art Collector’s Website, who used Google Images searches and rankings to attempt to determine the most famous paintings in the world. While the painting came in at #4 out of 10, it should be noted that only a year after the ACW article came out, that same organization actually attempted to sell the work.

It’s undeniably difficult to compile a list such as this one without leaving out hundreds of paintings that are more than worthy to be included, but it’s also undeniable that these fifteen paintings are among the most famous canvases ever touched by an artist. We hope that this list has given you a little more information about some of the works you’ve doubtless seen pretty much everywhere, and if there’s a painting not listed here that you think needs mentioning, let us know! It’s interesting to note that we’re in the early years of a new century, and art is only growing in popularity. Who knows what amazing and wondrous canvas works will be created in the 2000’s, but you can be sure, when we find out about them, we’ll be the first to let you know.

Simple Art Projects For Kids

When it comes to art projects for the grade school-aged child, the possibilities are endless!  My favorite art pieces created by the young ones reflect the innocence of a childlike perspective and the thought provoking use of materials on blank canvas.  When it comes to art projects for children I recommend three interesting uses of atypical materials but first… Grab a Canvas!  Now, let’s take a look at some very cool and simple children’s canvas art projects!

Project Idea No. 1 – Melt Those Crayons!

If you’re like many parents, you’ve had your fair share of Crayon-related incidents where walls covered in bright flamingo pink doodles and the mighty scribbling of incoherent blue letters suddenly appear out of thin air onto a favorite daily planner.  Well, why not take those pesky little Crayons out of their yellow box holding cell and attach them to blank canvas?  Of course, you will need to be with your child during this project because there is a high level of heat involved but the result of engaging your super awesome kid with this nifty melting Crayon project is destined to be a hit among your fellow parental group and your child’s playground mates.

Project Idea No. 2 – Incorporate Culture!

Art is often thought of as fun and an aide to the wildest of imaginations but for young pupils it can also be a covert world history project!  A culture that I recommend helping your young child incorporate into their new masterpieces is that of the Japanese culture.  The Japanese have centuries-old art techniques that are used in Western culture, and with very good reason – it is pleasant to receive visually and wildly popular as a communicative information source.  If you’re familiar with cherry blossoms and unique typographical characters, you have probably admired the artwork of an individual influenced by Japanese culture or who is a member of it!  I recommend this culture without reservation: I believe that we all benefit by learning from various cultures.  Pick one that you and your child can learn about and get to work on your canvas!

Project Idea No. 3 – The Self-Portrait!

Painting a self-portrait on canvas can be an eye-opening experience for your child and even for you – you have intimate view of how your beautiful child seems her or himself through their very own interpretation.  How cool!  First, have your child sketch their self-portrait before working on the blank canvas, with their face as the primary focal point.  Pick a color or a scene as the background and paint it on the canvas.  After the paint is dry, begin the painting the self-portrait!  You be thrilled by what your child comes up with and will be able to keep a lovely portrait of them for years to come.

As you can see, children’s art projects can be as diverse as the materials being used.  These projects also add a whole other level of fun and engagement with the young artist and their audience.  For more creative ideas, keep your virtual bookmark on Canvas Lot’s Blog!

Here’s a fun game to play if you ever happen to be in a room full of artists and/or art lovers. In the most nonchalant and innocent manner you can muster, ask the crowd what they think the most famous painting in the world is. Then sit back and enjoy, as you’re about to be treated to at least half an hour of debate that will more than likely escalate, possibly ending in heated exchanges and hurt feelings. Like the infamous “What is art?” and “Who is the best artist?” questions, “What is the most famous painting?” is a question that art aficionados of every level have an opinion on, though it probably has no right answer.

Despite the lack of any real method to determine the holder of this honor accurately, people certainly do try, and in recent years, the internet has allowed the flourishing of a huge number of “Most Famous Paintings” lists. While none of the available lists are perfect, and many are just examples of downright favoritism by anonymous contributors, what we can glean from these lists is a selection of paintings that are among the most famous ever to exist. By doing away with the ubiquitous need to rank these paintings, we can find ourselves a set of paintings that, in no particular order, are very well-known.

Of course, on this blog we’re mostly interested in those works that were created on that most excellent and beloved surface in the art world, that being canvas of course. So here’s a quick two-part look at fifteen canvases that can undoubtedly be referred to as some of the most famous in the world, focusing first on those pre-1900’s, and then those of the most recently past century.

Pre- 1800’s

As canvas is a relatively newly dominant surface in the world of art, it took a while after its invention for it to be the choice that prominent artists used for their masterpieces. Among those canvas-based pieces painted prior to the 1800’s that have become very famous are three in particular that stand out.

The first of these is Sandro Botticelli’s The Birth of Venus, an infinitely well-known piece depicting the birth of the Roman goddess Venus emerging from the sea, birthed as a fully grown woman standing in a clam and attended by angels and a woman who seeks to clothe her. This gorgeous tempera on canvas work painted in 1486 is currently held in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, and is a gorgeous representation of Early Italian Renaissance work.

Next we have the very different oil painting popularly known as The Night Watch. This 1642 piece by the master Rembrandt is actually called The Shooting Company of Frans Banning Cocq. The painting depicts Cocq, who commissioned it, and his men as they prepare to embark on a hunt. It’s particularly notable for its use of chiaroscuro (light and shadow) and for having been once cut down on all four sides as well as having been at point point attacked by a vandal with a butter knife.

Our third pre-1800’s piece is by the lighting genius Vermeer, 1667’s Girl with a Pearl Earring. This elegant oil picture of a woman wearing an earring and turning toward the viewer is actually more than likely not supposed to be a portrait, but instead what is known as a “tronie,” which is best defined as a picture of an anonymous head that is more about what’s happening than depicting a real person.

The 1800’s

Once the 1800s hit, canvas was king. Though of course other surfaces were still in use, many of the masterpieces of this era were done on canvas.

French Impressionist and world-renowned painter of scenes Pierre-August Renoir is first on our list with his incredible Luncheon of the Boating Party done with oil paints around 1880-1881. An excellent example of the Impressionist style, this work depicting a group of casual French revelers is famed for its bright colors and was controversially restored in 1954.

The next three paintings rounding out our pre-1900’s list are all by the same artist, possibly the most well-known artist of all time: Vincent Van Gogh. Three of Gogh’s amazing and most beloved works are Starry Night Over the Rhone, The Starry Night (which are often mistaken for each other) and Irises. The three were painted from 1888 to 1889 and are highly colorful, very stylized pieces. The two night scenes, in particular, are known for their depiction of stars and lights, and Starry Night is commonly listed in the top three most famous paintings ever.

It may seem odd that only seven of our fifteen famous canvases are from other centuries besides the 20^th, but consider two things: First, as we’ve mentioned, canvas became more dominant as a surface the farther along history moved. Second, art and artists grew to be more and more visible and easy to view as technology advanced, leading to more reproductions of the art and a wider media-net for each piece to be caught in. Because of these things, as well as perhaps simply that modern people often prefer art from their own time, most of our list falls within the 1900’s, and we have some pretty interesting facts to back that choice up with. As always, stay tuned to this spot, as next up we’ll show you eight more incredible works of canvas art you’re sure to recognize.

Have you ever painted on raw canvas? If you have, you know that it’s a bit of a challenge. Though it can provide an interesting experience and a unique aesthetic end-result, raw canvas is generally not the best surface to produce lasting art on. For one thing, paint, especially oil paint, will eventually deteriorate the canvas and your work will be ruined. Additionally, the texture of the weave on the canvas will not only show up through most layers of paint, it also gives a rough feel to applying paint to canvas, something many artists dislike.

Because of these reasons, most artists paint on canvases that have gone through a process called priming. Priming is essentially applying a layer of paint-like substance called primer or gesso to raw canvas, which both seals the canvas from damage and smoothes out the surface. Many canvases, such as those we produce, come pre-primed, which allows you the artist to jump straight into painting. However, primer is an extremely interesting material with a long history, and it’s a good idea for artists of all levels to be at least somewhat familiar with it.

Traditional Gesso

Primer is most commonly referred to by its classic name, gesso. Traditional gesso is a type of paint made from chalk, pigment and a binding agent made from animal skin. The animal skin glue seals the canvas fibers and provides an agent for the chalk and pigment to be suspended in. The chalk is used to provide a thick texture to smooth out the surface, while the pigment, usually white or off white, gives the canvas a completely blank and uniform color from which the artist can begin to paint. This kind of gesso has been in use for hundreds of years, and accepts almost any kind of paint, but is more difficult to create and use than modern gesso.

Modern or Acrylic Gesso

Modern gesso is known as acrylic gesso, and technically it is not gesso at all. Its formula is much more chemically complicated, including pigment (again, usually white), a medium latex acrylic polymer mixed with calcium carbonate and a variety of other chemicals used to provide long-life and flexibility, such as ammonia. This kind of gesso is often produced in large premixed amounts by art suppliers and can be bought in stores by artists, eliminating the need for artists to go through the lengthy mixing process themselves.

While most experts will tell you that acrylic gesso works well with any kind of paint, oil paint can eventually de-bind from acrylic gesso, peeling off in a process known as delamination. Though this often takes decades, it’s a good idea for artists wanting to create a long-lasting oil painting to use traditional gesso, which was created and formulated specifically to work well with oil paints. In fact, most professional artists working in oil avoid acrylic gesso, as nothing’s worse than creating a masterpiece that slowly falls apart.

The Future of Gesso

Like many other areas of art supply manufacturing, gesso production is constantly being updated and refined through modern processes. For instance, in recent years scientists have created a soy-based gesso that utilizes a soy-vegetable oil acrylic and what is known as soy ester along with new technological processes to create a gesso that is considered somewhat better to use with oil paints than acrylic gesso. Acrylic gesso itself is a relatively contemporary invention, and it will be very interesting to see what new types of gesso technology is able to create in the next few years. More than likely, we’ll see gessos that are even better sealing, bonding and smoothing in a very short time.

Gesso is a fundamental part of art creation, and a truly remarkable substance. Though, as we mentioned, it is often pre-applied to canvas that you purchase from quality canvas-makers, such as CanvasLot, it’s always a good idea to know more about the materials one uses as an artist. Now that you know a bit about what gesso/primer actually is, you’re ready to learn how it’s used and applied! Stay tuned to this blog for an in depth look at how experts, such as the folk who produce our canvases, utilize this fascinating material to create the most excellent painting surfaces available.

A blank canvas, yet to be touched with an artist’s mark, is a rather unassuming thing. While there’s certainly an aesthetic pleasure to be had in its straight lines, finely woven texture and stark, particular whiteness, a blank canvas is highly unlikely to garner an excessive amount of attention.

However, when that same humble, if beautiful, piece of unadorned fabric-on-stretchers happens to meet with an agent of color and the mind of an artist, it’s suddenly transformed into a different object entirely, and one with infinite possibilities. Some canvases may even be so particularly and uniquely marked that they become remarkable, and those canvases can be very interesting indeed. Today we’re venturing once again into the subject of the world’s most remarkable canvases, this time looking at the world’s smallest and first canvases ever painted. While both instances are difficult to determine exactly, the attempt to do both reveals some very interesting results.

The World’s Smallest Canvas…Competition

In our last remarkable canvas entry we showed you the world’s largest canvas, but this time we’re sliding down to the other end of the spectrum. Unlike the world’s largest, however, there is no recognized “world’s smallest canvas,” but what there is, is perhaps just as interesting. We’re talking about the World’s Smallest Stretched Canvas Competition held by the Hudson Valley Gallery in Cornwall-on-Hudson, a small town in the southern tip of New York state. Founded in 2008, the competition is put on once a year by artist and gallery owner Paul Gould, and it attracts a few hundred entries every time it’s held.

The rules of the competition are simple: each entry must be an oil or acrylic painting on a 1” x 2” canvas and it must be mailed or hand-delivered to the gallery by a set date along with a $10 entry fee. A panel of judges then selects the best of the bunch, and the artist is awarded a $500 prize. Each painting in the competition must be allowed to be for sale by the gallery, who then collects the profits. If you’re interested, take a look at their website and keep an eye out for the next instance of the competition!

The Search for the Earliest Painted Canvas in History

Like the world’s smallest canvas, it’s difficult to pinpoint the earliest painting on canvas, as many have not survived and some are difficult to date. However, unlike the smallest, we do have a few particular instances of canvas use that are good candidates for the world’s oldest surviving canvas painting. One well-known early canvas painting is recognized as the earliest oil painting on canvas, a French painting from 1410 known as Madonna with Angels. However, another canvas painting from twenty years earlier in 1390, interestingly also a Madonna, called The Madonna of Humility by Lippo di Dalmasio is held by The National Gallery in London to be their earliest canvas painting. A 1955 Time magazine article talks about a 13^th century canvas painting that is, surprise, also of Madonna, though that particular instance was canvas over panel.

In terms of famous artists, the Italian Renaissance painter Giovanni Bellini was known to use canvas in his works, which were created in the mid to late 15^th century. Bellini is well-known for being the teacher of Titian, another famous painter who used canvas a great deal. While canvas didn’t become popular as a medium for painting until the 1400’s, there’s evidence that something like canvas was in use far before that. Ancient Egyptians and Romans painted on a linen fabric plastered over surfaces, especially in funerary objects. Additionally, the use of painted cotton sheets in celebrations is recognizable as far back as the Middle Ages, if not farther, though these sheets were likely not woven in the same manner as traditional canvas.

Though we may never know the exact oldest use of canvas, and though the smallest canvas designation is both difficult to determine and likely to change, it can’t be denied that the search for both is useful as it reveals some absolutely spectacular uses of the material that is now the dominant medium for artistic creation. With technology in the fields of dating and canvas creation advancing every year, and more and more remarkably small or ancient canvases are brought to light, it’s likely that more information on this field will be available in the next few decades. With the search for the smallest and oldest canvases already having revealed such remarkable works, we simply can’t wait to see what comes to light next.

You hear the word “canvas” and it’s hard not to immediately think of French artists lugging their easels through fields in search of the perfect landscape, or artistic wild men slinging paint onto canvas-bedecked floors in the fashion of Jackson Pollack. Maybe you remember all the times you’ve said “Nice job, grandma” as she shows you her latest painting of flowers, or maybe you’re just reminded of all the difficulty you went through trying to stretch your own canvas for that fast-approaching art project.

The word is almost inextricably linked with art, and yet remarkably, the durable material wasn’t even widely used by artists until the 15th century. Because of the unique way that canvas is woven, it creates a strong material that serves a variety of purposes. We’ll take a look at a few other instances of canvas use, some perhaps surprising, to appreciate the versatility of this common painting surface.

We would never suggest trying to float a river atop one of our custom-stretched canvases, but canvas does happen to make an excellent material for canoes. Not entirely dissimilar from our process of stretching canvas, a waterproofed canvas is stretched taut over the wooden hull of the canoes. These wood-and-canvas canoes were a favorite for President Teddy Roosevelt on his river expeditions, and are still widely in use today.

Even before its use in canoes, canvas had a long history in the maritime industry. For hundreds of years, canvas has been the material of choice for sails; in fact, the abundance of canvas sails in Renaissance Venice is what led to artists using the material in the first place. The thick and hardy weave holds up well to the often-rough conditions of the sea, weathering storms and sun both. Constructing canvas sails was once a highly valued art, and to this day sailors are still taught sewing techniques in order to patch their sails with spare canvas.

Even if you don’t spend much time on boats, there are plenty of uses for canvas on dry land. If you’ve ever bounced on a trampoline, chances are you were jumping on canvas. Now we of course would rather you not order our custom-stretched canvases only for bouncing and back-flips, but stretched tightly enough, canvas can rocket you into the air. Because canvas itself is not elastic, however, it needs to be connected to the trampoline by tightly-wound springs that provide all the bounce power.

While advances in technology have made canvas clothing somewhat uncommon these days, you can still find it where there’s a need for a durable material. Many martial arts uniforms include items made of canvas, where it holds up well against barrages of punches and kicks. Some footwear, such as dock shoes and field boots, also often use canvas to provide durability in harsh conditions where heavier shoes would be impractical. Canvas is also a common material for patio umbrellas and awnings.

Canvas really is a dynamic material, and it really is everywhere; you probably even have canvas in your home. A backpack, a traveling bag, a lampshade, a rug; anything made of fabric can potentially be made of canvas. We think canvas is an incredible thing, with a rich and interesting history that only grows with each passing day. Perhaps, after reading a bit about the many uses for this wonder fabric, you might feel the same way we do about canvas.

We’ve talked a bit about what canvas is and why it’s the best fit for almost any painting project, but today we’re going to deal with another issue dear to our hearts here at the shop: how to select a spectacular canvas from a poorly made facsimile meant to entice you with its cheap price. While the discounted cost may be tempting, these bargain surfaces usually have huge drawbacks that many artists may not be aware of, and they’ll often come back to bite you in the end.

It might be easy to recognize a cheap panel canvas from a stretched one, but not all stretched canvases are created equal. When you see a huge price decrease from one canvas to the next, it usually means something important is different, even if the two look perfectly similar. There are a few things you should check when comparing canvases.

First, check the actual type of material used for the canvas. Cotton canvas can be of high quality at times, but overall is a cheaper and less exquisite material than linen or new materials such as polyester. The packaging for the canvas should contain this information, but if not, a quick jaunt to the net will likely show you what you need to know.

The second issue to check is what’s actually keeping the canvas stretched. Though most canvases with wood frames use staples, there are still some that use less quality materials, such as glue. Simply flip the canvas over to check this on your potential surfaces.

Thirdly, the canvas can come prepared in a variety of ways, or not at all. Depending on your particular project, you probably want a canvas that has at least some priming, though that’s not always the case. Your preference will depend on your project, so know what you’re looking for ahead of time. This info may be on the packaging, but again, if not, go to the web.

The fourth issue is of particular importance: who or what stretched this canvas? Though machine-stretched units are getting better all the time, a canvas hand stretched by an expert is still the top dog in the world of surfaces. This is where the web is handy, as most hand-stretching companies are proud of their products and will tell you outright (like Canvas Lot!).

Finally, some canvas brands are simply better than others. Two canvases from different brands might have the same technical qualifications, but may be of entirely different quality. Here is where the web, yet again, comes in handy. Read some reviews of each brand your considering online, and you’ll quickly find the one for you.

It’s a bit tricky, but once you’ve spent a little time researching and testing out canvases of different brands and types for yourself, you’ll learn which you prefer pretty quickly. Many artists, especially those just starting out, reach for the cheap option automatically, but its a good idea to know what you’re getting into with each brand, especially when trying to create something that will last for a good long while.

That’s why when we tell our customers that our canvases are the best, we really mean it. Try out a few of our expertly crafted products against some store bought bargains, and we think you’ll find for yourself that quality just isn’t replaceable. With our highly-efficient facilities, we’re able to bring you canvases of stunning excellence at a price normally reserved for the discount bin, and we’re only getting better at the process. So, there’s really no reason to grab those cheap, knock-offs; go with the pros, and get the best canvases around.

For today’s jaunt into the wide world of canvas, we’re going to step back from the easel and show you a bit about what it’s like in one of the coolest places in the world, the Canvas Lot shop! We love getting to know our audience, and we’d love for you to know more about what we do and where we’re coming from. So here are a few fun details about us, your friendly online canvas stretchers.

CanvasLot.com is based out of the ever-exciting Austin, Tx, live music capital of the world, home of the famed University of Texas Longhorns and a true artist’s Mecca. Austin is a dead-on perfect fit for us, because the people here really care about good creative work, and that’s what we’re all about. One just has to drive around this city for a while and look at the great public art, the interesting buildings and spaces and the unique people that make it their home, and it’s easy to see why Austin is an ideal place for a business like ours to thrive.

When it comes to our facilities, we believe in excellent simplicity. In order to bring our customers the very best canvases at prices that are unmatchable anywhere online or off, we’ve pared our operation down to a facility which contains an office and a warehouse, both of which are loaded with high-end tech and are actually certified Eco-Green.

Our office is where we handle the operating details of our business, including our online storefront. We’ve found not only the best tech-oriented folk to keep our business running; we’ve also found those that are passionate about working on a quality product, and we think they do some excellent work.

If you’d like a closer look into the day-to-day operations of our warehouse, stop on over at the videos page on our site. Here you can see not only our warehouse, but you can get a closer look at our stretching process too. The warehouse is truly where the magic happens, as we do everything from receiving blank canvas, stretching the canvas and shipping it out all from one convenient location. This helps us not only create excellent canvases at a high rate of efficiency, it also cuts down on our costs. This in turn allows us to pass huge savings on to you, something we think we can all get excited about!

You may not know this, but Canvas Lot has a sister business, also located in Austin. ArtWarehouses.com produces world-class art prints at an incredibly affordable price, and since we already produce the canvas to print on, our two sites fit like a hand in a glove. Art Warehouses keeps a huge stock of gorgeous prints in a large variety of styles, looks and sizes, and for anyone looking to stock their home with spectacular artwork, it’s definitely worth a look.

Between Canvas Lot and Art Warehouses, we’re setting out to revolutionize the world of canvas, both blank and printed with stunning art. And with such a great city to support us in our endeavors, we think we have a pretty good chance of doing just that, one canvas at a time.

From the oil paintings of the masters to graffiti ripped from the streets and displayed in a legal venue, what can be used on a canvas defines the medium. So what exactly is okay to use on a canvas? The two heavyweights, acrylic and oil, are fairly obvious, but canvas isn’t exclusive to these two well-loved paints. With the right preparation and the right materials, a good quality canvas can take, hold and beautifully display a truly stunning array of marking materials, not just including paint.

Oil Paint- Deep Colors, Lengthy Process

Oil is a long-used medium, becoming hugely popular in the 15th century but having been used long before. In fact, oil is such a strongly prevalent type of painting that oil paintings are frequently what people refer to when they speak of art. For instance, The Mona Lisa, Guernica, and The Starry Night are all oil paintings and are among some of the most famous and well-loved works of art in existence.

A priming process, either done by the artist or the canvas manufacturer, typically precedes oil paintings on canvas. Artists find oil paints to create paintings of great detail and depth of color, as they can be mixed easily and extensively to great effect. Oil has three major drawbacks, however: it takes a very long time to dry (days, weeks, even up to a year depending on circumstances), it takes a lengthy process of creation to correctly use, and it and the materials necessary to use it are potentially toxic and flammable.

Acrylic Paint- Water-based, Cheap and Versatile

Because of these drawbacks, as well as its relative cheapness, acrylic paints have recently threatened oil’s position as king of paints. Acrylic is essentially pigment trapped in a type of thermoplastic and water. This gives it the remarkable ability to be diluted and entirely cleaned off with water alone, yet when it dries, it’s mostly waterproof and is very difficult to remove. Acrylic can also be used to create effect similar to both oil and watercolor, but can achieve a look all its own as well.

Unlike oil, one does not need to prime a canvas to use acrylic (though one certainly can), and acrylic dries rather rapidly. However, the molecules in oil paint are capable of taking more pigment in, meaning they can produce a wider variety of colors. Acrylic is a very versatile type of paint, but there are still many who prefer oil for its richness and particular look.

Other Paints- A Cascade of Options

Though oil and acrylic paint are by far the most common materials used on canvas, they are by no means the only ones possible. Of particular note is spray-paint, an aerosol-delivered paint that quickly bonds to and dries on almost any kind of surface. Spray-paint comes in a variety of colors, but can’t be mixed and must usually be applied straight to the canvas without a brush, making it a tricky medium for many artists.

In addition to the three listed above, artists have reported success with a great many other types of marking materials. Charcoal, encaustic (wax based) paint, and tempera (egg based) paint have all been used with varying degrees of effectiveness on canvas, with each requiring a specific process to make sure it works correctly. Even gouache and watercolor paints can be used on canvas if it’s primed right!

Canvas is truly a rich medium for art, and with centuries upon centuries of artists experimenting with what it can take and how, the materials that can be used upon it are almost endless. To find out what to use on canvas and how is simply a process of researching each individual material and the ways people have attempted to apply it to canvas. Do some experimenting of your own, and you’ll soon find yourself the material that pairs best with canvas for your creations. Don’t be afraid to fail; there’s always another canvas waiting. Who knows, maybe you’ll be the first to pioneer a revolutionary new technique!

You’ve seen them on walls and galleries; we’ve all seen them in endless stacks on shelves, so let’s deal with the elephant in the room. Those undeniably affordable panel canvases that often come in cheap packs of multiple units are a real steal. But who’s being stolen from, really? These easy to produce, easy to buy products are certainly tempting, but you may not be aware of the long-term drawbacks that come with such low-cost, low-quality canvases. Today we’re going to give you the nitty-gritty on why panel canvases are something that should mostly be avoided by those looking to create good, lasting work.

What’s This Panel Canvas You Speak Of?

We should first define what we’re talking about, for those who might not know. Panel canvases are easy to recognize because they’re usually very thin compared to higher-quality canvases. They usually come in packs of more than one, and they’re very common in both the rather dismally stocked art supply sections of major department stores as well as real art suppliers.

They achieve their thinness because, instead of being properly stretched and stapled to a sturdy frame, these canvases are glued over a much cheaper material, usually cardboard or cheap wood. This provides a cheap alternative to stretching the canvas for the manufacturer, allowing them to pass savings on to the customer, but at the price of quality.

What Panels Should Be Used For

Of course, these cheap facsimiles of real canvases aren’t all bad, in fact they’re absolutely spectacular for quick studies, for students without the need for expensive surfaces or for anyone else who just wants to experiment with paint.

Why These Canvases Should Be Avoided

However, these canvases become trouble when used for serious work, as their quality is lacking in many ways. To begin with, they aren’t meant to hold up to much stress. Whether from movement, weathering, age or even just too much paint used on them, they can easily bend, warp and become otherwise damaged.

Additionally, since they are glued to the board instead of stapled, these canvases can often come partly or even entirely off their backing, ruining the painting or at least making it very vulnerable. The canvas itself is often of poor quality, and they are rarely primed well, because these canvases are made quickly and in high quantities in order for the manufacturer to turn a profit.

The Shady Side of Panel Canvas

Though there’s nothing wrong with panel canvases existing, and in fact many professional artists use them as an indispensable testing ground, the real problem is the way that these canvases are often presented on the market.

The world of art supplies is a fascinating, but somewhat hard to crack puzzle, especially for beginners. When people see that they can buy a great many panel canvases for the same price as one good stretched canvas, they can often jump right into making a purchase without knowing the consequences.

The manufacturers, though rarely outright lying, aren’t exactly trying to stop these shoppers either. Many panel canvases are packaged with exciting pictures and copy that give the impression that the buyer is getting a high-quality surface, and most of this is indistinguishable to the common buyer from the packaging on a nicer canvas.

This is why it’s important to do some research before making any art supply purchase, and why it’s a pretty good rule of thumb that anything which looks too cheap to be true probably is just that.

Unless you need to save the cash or just need something for a quick piece of work, it’s really just best to avoid panel canvases. You’ll be glad you did when that gorgeous piece you did five years ago still looks great, while your friend with the shallow pockets and cheap panel canvas slowly watches his work fall apart before his eyes. If we have one goal here at the shop (besides actually making great canvases), it’d be to keep our customers from becoming that guy. Be the one with the long lasting, wonderful piece of artwork that’s displayed on a worthy surface, and choose stretched over panel canvases for all of your serious work.