Tagged: art supplies

How to Use Gesso on a Canvas

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Gesso? What is it?

Most beginners in painting may be unfamiliar with the word “gesso.” It’s a highfaluting term that could leave a novice dumbfounded. But, don’t fret. In this post, I’ll try to shed light on this and hopefully, we can understand what gesso is all about.

Encyclopaedia Britannica defines gesso (pronounced ‘jesso’) as:

“a fluid white coating, composed of plaster of paris, chalk, gypsum, or other whiting mixed with glue, applied to smooth surfaces such as wood panels, plaster, stone, or canvas to provide the ground for tempera and oil painting or for gilding and painting carved furniture and picture frames.”

Basically, gesso is a substance used to prepare or prime a canvas before you can use it in painting. It was traditionally used by oil painters so the oil paints would adhere to the canvas. Gesso is used to protect the canvas fibers, smoothen the surface, and give flexibility to the canvas.

Is there a difference between an oil gesso and an acrylic gesso? Yes, their ingredients. Traditional oil gesso, also called glue gesso, contains an animal glue binder (usually rabbit-skin glue), chalk, and white pigment. Acrylic gesso is made of an acrylic polymer medium (binder), Calcium carbonate (chalk), a pigment (Titanium white), and chemicals for flexibility and longer life.

Acrylic gesso doesn’t contain glue since acrylic paints is not corrosive, unlike oils. The glue in the glue gesso is absorbed by the fibers of the canvas which protects it from the corrosive nature of oil paints. Many artists use acrylic gesso because of its versatility, quick drying time, convenience, flexibility, and ease of use. Some artists claim that it can be used as ground when painting in oil but some argue that the flexibility of the acrylic gesso will cause the oil paint to crack over time.

An acrylic painter could choose not to use acrylic gesso if he wants the staining effect of acrylic paints on canvas. For beginners, it’s better to prime the canvas first, or use a pre-primed canvas since you are still practicing your painting skills. CanvasLot offers pre-primed canvas in various sizes so you won’t go into the trouble of priming your canvas.

If you are a beginner in oil painting, you can use acrylic gesso but just make sure that the canvas has been properly sized. If you are creating a portrait, or planning to create a masterpiece or something like an heirloom to your family, it’s better to use the oil gesso since the oil paint will stick better to it than to an acrylic.

You can buy acrylic gesso in most art supplies shops and it is available in artist quality and student quality. As with other art supplies, the artist quality acrylic gesso is more expensive and has higher quality than the student gesso. For priming a canvas, use the artist quality gesso.

Image source: www.wikipedia.org

What are the Solvents Used in Oil Painting?

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“Solvent” is the term most commonly used to identify the liquids that are added to oil paints to temporarily change the way they work when put on canvas. Solvents dilute oil, and dissolve fats and grease from oil paints. Aside from diluting oil paints, artists use solvents to dissolve resins and clean up the work area and paint brushes.

Solvents may have different uses but they have common characteristics:

  • Liquid
  • Volatile
  • Produce vapors
  • Flammable
  • May be hazardous to health

You may think that you should forget using solvents since they are harmful to your health, but with proper precaution and  care of use, you’ll appreciate the benefits solvents bring to a painter’s work. There are many solvents available to an oil painter but you can just select a few for your work.

Turpentine. Turpentine is the traditional solvent used in oil painting and is commonly found in hardware stores. It easily evaporates and gives off harmful vapors which causes skin irritation. When buying, choose artist quality turpentine which is colorless, since the industrial type of turpentine may contain impurities. Turpentine is mostly called as “turps” and can also be called spirit of turpentine, oil of turpentine, genuine turpentine, English turpentine, distilled turpentine, and double rectified turpentine.

Mineral Spirits. Mineral spirits or paint thinner is best used for cleaning paint brushes and thinning paints. It is less expensive and less abrasive compared to turps but it still releases harmful vapors so take precaution when using it. Mineral spirits is also called “white spirits.”

Odorless Mineral Spirits (OMS). As the name says, Odorless Mineral Spirits doesn’t have an unpleasant odor which makes it more expensive than ordinary mineral spirits. It is used for thinning paint and cleaning brushes. OMS is available in different grades, depending on the amount of aromatic properties removed from it. The more refined the OMS, the safer it becomes.

Paint thinner. Paint thinners are synthetic-based solvents. Contrary to its name, it is more effective in cleanup than as a diluting substance of oil paints.

Citrus-based thinner. Citrus-based thinner has a pleasant smell and is used to clean brushes and dilute oil paints. It has a yellowish color and a citrusy smell. Use it with oil paints to dry the painting faster. It is a more environmentally-friendly solvent than turps.

Turpenoid. Turpenoid is a popular synthetic solvent that is odorless and colorless which is used as a substitute for turps.  It is great for diluting oil paints as well as cleaning brushes.

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How to Repair a Damaged Canvas

You’ve finally finished your masterpiece. After hours and days laboring on your painting, carefully putting your inspiration on canvas, you’re excited to display it. Unfortunately, you or someone else accidentally ripped a small area on your painting. What do you do?

Don’t panic. There are two ways to repair a torn, ripped, punctured, or damaged canvas: patching or lining. Before fixing your canvas, you have to consider some factors that would affect the end result of your repair. If the damage is small, patching would be a good remedy. Patching is a quick and easy solution to tiny punctures, L-shaped tears, and small tears. For damages affecting a large area or if the small tears are located in several areas, lining is the best way to fix the canvas. For old oil paintings, professional art restorers prefer to do lining since most aged canvas are brittle, fragile, and more susceptible to damage when not reinforced.

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Patching
Here are the steps for patching a canvas:

1. Smooth out the area where the tear is located. Clean up any fibers that may have unraveled.

2. Cut a piece of canvas with at least an inch wider than the tear. If you have a lighter weight canvas than the one you’re repairing is best to use.

3. Glue the patch at the back of the tear. Use acrylic-gesso or an acid-free glue in patching. Apply a thin layer of glue to the patch. If you use too much glue, it will only squeeze out of the patch and get on the front of the canvas which will leave an unnecessary stain.

4. While the glue is still wet, check the tear at the front of the canvas. Use a pair of tweezers to put back loose threads in place. Carefully arrange the threads to fill the damage.

5. Inpaint the patched area, if needed. If it’s your own work, it would be easier to repaint the repaired area.

Tips:

  • Work with patience and care.
  • Hire a professional art conservator or restorer for fixing valuable and antique paintings. They can do a more refined repair of an old painting.
  • Patching done in a busy area of the painting is less noticeable than a patch in a solid area.
  • Just because the patch is located behind the canvas, doesn’t mean you will do a sloppy repair. Make the patch neat and professional-looking so if someone sees the repair, they won’t be dismayed with the whole painting.

Image source: http://painting.about.com

Checklist For a Plein Air Art Trip

Packing for a Plein Air art trip varies depending on where you’re going and the elements that you will be dealing with. There are variety of things that you must consider since you will be working outdoors. Here’s a list of the basic things you need to have on your trip.

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ART MATERIALS
Since you’re going to travel, take note to have your art materials complete. It’s better if you keep things compact and organized to avoid confusion and you might forget some of your essential materials. A good idea is to invest a good art traveling bag which has multiple pockets and organizers to keep your materials intact while you’re traveling.

easelEASELS
Support is needed for any surface you plan to work on. And since you are traveling, a portable easel is a very good choice. Special easels comes with storage such as drawers and compartments for carrying paints and brushes within the easel. Table easels are also available if you prefer to sit while painting.

UMBRELLA and HAT
You can always find a shady area to paint but sometimes you’ll have to set up in the sun. The hat is for your protection but the umbrella is to keep the sun off your canvas and palette. A white or gray umbrella so the reflection doesn’t affect your color judgement. Try to keep both palate and canvas in the shade.

CAMERA
You can capture the initial scene with a camera. Positions of clouds and direction of the wind can constantly change outdoors so you can use this trick to make your artwork more consistent. Another advantage of the still shot is that you can use it just in case the weather turns bad and you have to finish your painting indoors.

EXTRA CLOTHING
Bring extra clothes just in case you so you can change just in case things get messy. Or you can dress in layers that you can easily take off as you get hot and put on when it gets colder. Wear neutral colored clothing to avoid too much light reflections onto your painting. Bright colors can also reflect some of their color onto your painting so stick with beige and khakis.

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Now that you have your basics, here are some of the things you might want to have with you on your trip to make it more comfortable.
• Water to drink
• Light snacks
• Paper towels
• Insect repellent
• Garbage bags
• Soap and water to clean your brushes

Image source: www.judithgreenleaf.com

Different Types of Brushes in Oil Painting

Aside from canvas, paintbrush is one of the most important material an artist has to have. You have to have good brushes with you to create good paintings. Even a good painter cannot come up with wonderful pieces is he’s using bad brushes so make sure you have good brushes with you. For oil painting, a good brush will retain its shape when dipped in paint, will bend in each stroke, and return to its original shape after each brush stroke.

Brush Hair
Oil painting brushes are available in bristle and sable hairs. Bristle brushes come from pigs’ hair and are used to begin a painting. The bristles are strong and the tips are naturally split, allowing the brush to hold more paint. Use bristle brushes which are half an inch wide or wider. Sable brushes are soft-haired brushes made from the hair of the tail of a sable marten which are a bit expensive. These brushes are perfect for painting details and small areas.

There are also brushes using synthetic hairs which are also cheaper than brushes with natural hair. If you are against using animals in your art, use synthetic brushes for your peace of mind.

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Brush Shapes
Brushes come in different shapes. The most common shapes are: Flats, Filberts, Brights, and Rounds. Other shapes are the Fan, Angle, Mop, and Rigger. Each brush is used for a variety of techniques in applying paint.

Flat brush. A flat brush has long bristles arranged in a rectangular shape. It is a primary blending brush and used for spreading paint quickly and evenly on a canvas. It is considered as the most versatile among the brushes.

Filberts. A Filbert is a flat brush with an oval shape. It is used in blending and creating areas with softer edges. Many artists have advised on using filberts with natural hairs since the hairs stick together better when wet.

Brights. Brights are flat brushes but with shorter and stiff hairs than flats. Use this brush if you want your strokes to show in the painting. It is used in thinner painting styles and also, thicker applications of paint such as impasto.

Rounds. Rounds are brushes with a pointed tip which provides little variation in the size and shape of the brush stroke. It is used for painting small details and line work.

Fan. As the name suggests, a Fan brush is shaped like a fan. It is used in blending large areas, creating soft blends of several colors. It can also be used to soften brush strokes on the canvas.

Angle. Angle brushes have short bristles and longer ones at one end, creating an angular shape. It can be used for general application of paint as well as detail work.

Mop. Mop is a large brush with a rounded edge. Larger sized Mops look like a blush-on brush which are great in broad soft paint application.

Rigger. A Rigger is a round brush with long hairs used in painting delicate lines and dots.

Image source: www.emptyeasel.com

How to Choose Quality Canvas for Painting

Artists have used several materials of canvas in painting such as linen, jute, hemp, or cotton. Nowadays, linen and cotton are the most popular fibers in canvas. Linen is more expensive compared to cotton and is often used by professional artists who have years of experience in perfecting their craft. For beginners, a cotton canvas is more appropriate since it is less expensive.

When choosing a canvas, you must consider these two important factors: the support and ground. Support is the material where paint is applied while the Ground is the gesso or primer. These two are important to the success or failure of your painting. The support and ground are determined by the type of paint and method of applying the paint. For example, if you are using a staining technique in painting, when you do it on a raw canvas, it will give a different result when you do the same technique to a primed canvas.

The Support
Choose a canvas that offers strength and stability, depending on your needs for a certain project. As you paint, the support will have to undergo much movement and stress from the environment such as temperature, humidity, and constant stretching/restretching.

Canvas is available in different weights: lightweight (4-5 oz),  medium weight (7-10 oz), and heavyweight (18 oz) per square yard. Support with lower weights are not as smooth or sturdy as heavier weights. Medium weight is a good weight for painting since it gives good support to your painting.

The Ground
Why ground is important in a canvas?

  • Protection of support. Ground protects your canvas from being damaged by harmful ingredients in paint. Natural fibers such as cotton absorbs moisture and when the paint dries, it will release this moisture, causing swelling and shrinking of the canvas. If you are using oil, the fibers will absorb its moisture, leaving the surface brittle.
  • Adhesion of paint. A properly primed canvas allows sufficient adhesion of paint to the support. A correctly primed canvas should accept paint and give a degree of absorbency. Too much absorbency can soak up all the oil from the paint while a non-absorbent ground can leave a weak paint film that can be peeled off. Good thing, pre-primed canvas is available online and in art supply shops.
  • Color enhancement. If your project involves transparent painting technique, the ground provides a white background that intensifies the colors. Ground is useful when you are underpainting, or applying the first layer of paint to a canvas.

A chosen canvas varies depending on an artist’s needs. Some may use raw canvas, pre-primed, or a heavyweight canvas. Keep in mind that whatever canvas you choose, it has a big effect on the outcome of your painting.

Tips When Air Traveling with Your Painting Supplies

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Traveling is part of an artist’s life. Artists travel due to professional commitments like to teach a class or speak at an engagement; for a change of venue; to get inspiration; take a vacation, and so many other reasons. Road travel is not as complicated as traveling by air and when traveling, an artist must consider how he would bring his art supplies with him. Here are some tips that you can use when traveling via plane:

1. Create a list of the art supplies you will bring. List each essential item that you need when painting on location so you won’t get frustrated once you get to your destination. Avoid forgetting your paints, brushes, tripod, canvas pad, palette, etc. by including your supplies in the packing list but don’t go overboard. Don’t bring all your paints and just settle with a few colors, 5-6 would suffice since you can mix colors to achieve another one. Just list those items that you can’t paint without.

2. Familiarize yourself with the airline’s regulations. Know beforehand which items are accepted and prohibited to be hand-carried inside the plane. Mineral spirits, solvents or thinners are not allowed. The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) issued on its website a list of prohibited items when traveling by air, which items can be declared as carry-on, and those to be checked in.

3. Pack your art supplies in a separate bag. This makes it easier for airport security to check your luggage if all your painting supplies are in one location. This will make it easier for both you and the security guards when doing the mandatory checking your belongings. Don’t forget to put your paints in plastic resealable bags to prevent accidental leaks from staining your other stuff.

4. Use water-soluble oils. Since air travel prohibits you from bringing your solvents and other flammable supplies, using water-soluble oils in your painting is beneficial. Cleaning is done easily and the painting dries quickly. If you need to travel again within a short period of time, it would be no problem with these kinds of paint since the drying time is faster.

5. Ship your art materials to your destination beforehand. If you don’t want the hassle of packing or answering the questions of airport security if your supplies are hazardous or not, you can opt to send your supplies ahead of you. Couriers can deliver your supplies anywhere in the world, just make sure you insure the package.

Image source: http://www.abeautifulmess.com/

Tips on Saving Money on Art Supplies

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Painting can be an expensive hobby and profession. Art supplies may come at exorbitant prices so you have to be smart about purchasing the things you need so you won’t go broke in the process of doing what you love.

Here are some tips that I use so I can save some money when buying my supplies:

Tip No.1 – Stock most commonly used art supplies. As much as possible, when I go to the art store, I buy all the things I need now and in the near future. For example, I don’t wait until I ran out of paint. If I go to the store at the last minute, I will most likely buy other supplies which I had no intention of buying in the first place. I go to the store buying paint and I go out with bags full of other stuff. Sounds familiar?

Tip No.2 – Keep art supplies in good condition. It’s hard to keep my studio and tools clean after painting but it’s wise to take care of the things I use in my art. I clean my paintbrushes and other utensils after use and I make sure they are dry before putting it in storage. There are trash bins inside my studio so waste materials have their own place, too. Art supplies cost money and throwing them away because of mishandling and carelessness also means throwing away money.

Tip No.3 – Buy online. I get great deals shopping at online art stores. Bigger art retailers offer their extensive range of supplies online and it’s fun to browse through them. The websites also have a Sale section so I can see discounted art materials. ebay and Craigslist are also great in finding deals on art supplies, you just have to be patient and check these sites regularly.

Tip No.4 – Subscribe to mailing lists. Art shops offer great deals and incentives through their mailing lists. They send discount coupons and sale announcements to members so join every mailing list of art retailers near you.

You can also consider getting a membership card from the art shop which you frequent. Store members can get discounts and other incentives and these little savings can add up.

Tip No.5 – Buy in bulk to get wholesale prices. Buying one piece of an item costs more than buying it in bulk. Art stores offer wholesale discount prices when you buy in bulk. You may think that it will cost you a lot of money but if you compute the price per piece, you’ll realize that buying wholesale is still cheaper than buying retail.

Image source: http://www.guidetooilpainting.com/