2.3.2_How to stretch a canvas.

2.3.2  How to stretch a canvas.

  Regardless if the oil painter choses to work on canvas or panel, or never intends to stretch his own canvas, the student of oil painting is obligated to learn how to stretch a canvas.  Beyond the obvious lessons, knowing how to stretch a canvas teaches the student of oil painting the limitations and potential of the medium.  There are many ways to stretch a canvas.  This step by step illustration is the method I have found to consistently produce the best possible painting surface, with the most longevity.

  The choice of using staples or tacks to fix the canvas to the stretchers has consistently been debated by artists.  Tacks are traditional and painters have used them because tacks were all that was available to them.  Today staples are readily available, they are just as good and sometimes better than tacks.  Cheap staples or tacks will eventually rust, damaging your canvas and eventually causing mold to form between the stretcher and canvas.  If the oil painter choses to use tacks then he must realize that it is for the nostalgic philosophical reasons and not the structural ones.  Todays galvanized staples are every bit as good as tacks, and in most cases better.  Albeit, every oil painter should use tacks at least one time simply to experience of their use.  It is not the use of fixing the canvas to a stretcher that holds great importance, so the choice of tacks or staples is freely yours without consequence to your painting surface.  It is the method in which the artist actually stretches the canvas which is important.

  While fixing a canvas to a stretcher frame always work around the canvas in a counter-clockwise direction.  Working counter clockwise is a natural pattern so let that become a part of your muscle memory when stretching canvas.  Doing so might seam arbitrary, but it assists the pull and relax of the fabrics weave so it lays tight and parallel against the stretcher frame in a manner more according to the weave of the fabric.

  For what we are going to be doing you will need a few tools.  A ruler, scissors, a stapler, staples, hammer, an ink pen or marker, small pliers, and a pair of canvas pliers if you need them. 

Step One:  Build the stretchers making sure all four corners are square.

  The decision to use lightweight or heavy weight stretchers is both one of cost and need. For smaller paintings light weight stretchers are fine, and desirable for works less than 24 inches. Paintings on light-weight stretchers larger than 24 inches tend to warp and “potato chip” during the drying process.  Heavy weight stretchers are by far superior and will hold the canvas better. Modern stretchers are made to expand and slightly re-stretch the canvas though time.  Once the painting is completed, as in your done painting it, place the stretcher wedges in by pounding them into the inside corner slots, one at a time in the same order as stapling the corners of the canvas.  Do not use a glue to fix the stretcher wedges because they need to be moveable so as to help re-stretch the canvas as its weave settles with time. 

Step Two:  Let us start with a un-primed canvas.

  Right now we only want to line up the weave of the fabric to be as parallel to the stretcher bars as possible.  Lay the canvas painting surface down onto a soft surface, like a blanket or sheet, so as to not scratch the surface or cause the pattern of the fabrics weave to be displaced.  I use a large quilt to lay my canvas on.  You don’t have to go to that extent of protection as I do that because the pre-primed linen I use is very smooth and expensive and I don’t want to ruin my surface for applying oil paint.  Place the pre-built stretcher frame on top the back of the canvas then wrap the canvas over the stretchers, aligning the weave of the fabric parallel to the stretcher bars, overlapping the inside edge by an inch.  If your canvas is larger than your stretchers need trim off the excess while sizing.  

  Once you have the fabrics weave lined up with the frame staple the centers of each side pulling the canvas tight but not taunt.  These four staples are temporary, and you will remove them part way through the next step.  Then trim the overlapping canvas to match the inside edge of the frame.  You want there to be enough fabric to evenly lay around the entire stretcher bar and no more.  Then holding the canvas in place, staple the exact center of one of the longest sides.  Then stretching the canvas tight from the opposite side, staple its exact center.  Do the same for the remaining two sides, being sure to pull the canvas tight before you place each staple.  The purpose of this is to simply assure that the alignment of the fabrics weave is parallel to the stretcher bars, and to hold the canvas in place to prepare to stretch it to the stretcher fame.

Step Three:  Stretching the outside corners.  

  With the canvas set in place now start the stretching process with the corners.  You want to start your staples at the bottom line of the adjoining stretcher.  So if your stretchers are two inches thick, you want to start your corner two inches from the actual corner.  Chose one of the longest sides and first staple its left corner, pulling the canvas tight again but not taunt.  The placement of the corner staples should be in the center mass of the stretcher, lined directly with the adjoining stretchers inside edge.  Working in a counter clockwise direction, do the same to the remaining three left sided corners being sure at this point to pull the fabric taunt with each staple.  Repeat the process on the right sided corners of each, again moving counter clockwise around the canvas and pulling the fabric taunt.  

Step Four:  Split the middles.  

  Next remove the first four center staples used to hold the canvas in place, being careful so as not to damage the canvas.  

Then measure the distance between the corner staples on each side, mark the centers and re-staple for what is now the exact centers of each side, again moving in a counter-clockwise direction around the frame.  Pull each side of the canvas taunt before placing the staple.   Being sure that the staples are in the center mass of the stretcher width, keep measuring between all of the staples and mark off all the centers.  Pulling the canvas taunt, staple all the centers one at a time counter clockwise.  If your hands are not strong enough to pull the canvas tight use a canvas pliers to easily pull the canvas to the perfect tautness on the stretcher frame.  

At this point you should have 20 staples into the mix.  Again divide the distance between each staple in half, stapling each half mark between all the staples around the entire frame.  We now have 36 staples in the mix.  Repeating this process again and again until the staples are between two and four inches apart.  

  By dividing the staple points in this way instead of simply going once all the way around the canvas will naturally eliminate warping and ensure that the fabrics weave is stretched evenly as the it is pulled taunt equally over the total surface area while remaining parallel to the stretcher frame.  The more staples used to stretch the canvas the taunter the painting surface will be against the frame.  Do not go OCD on this.  The canvas is good and stretches when the staples are two to four inches apart from one another.  

Step Five:  Folding the corners in.  

  As a final step you will want to fold the excess canvas on the corners to form a forty-five degree flap.  Work in a clockwise direction, folding the corner to your left toward you.  It is extremely important that you fold each corner the same, all going in the same direction and tucking into the canvas in one repeated form.  Pull the material upward while tucking the excess canvas on the corners from the top of the fold under to the bottom edge of the frame.  Repeat the tuck, refolding it into itself then pressing the fold down flush with the exterior side of the frame itself.  Staple the fold to the frame along the folds edge with two or three staples.  This should leave a clean 45 degree corner on the outside edge of the frame with the fold on the back side.  You should end up with one fold per side.  

Step Six:  Letting it breath.

  Lean your finished canvas upright against a wall for a day or more to allow the weave to settle into its new position.  After a few days use a small amount of water on the back of the canvas to tighten it further if needed.  Be careful not to use too much water or the stretchers will warp, and the canvas will be virtually useless having an uneven surface to paint on.  The finished canvas should be taunt like a drum, making a deep reverberating sound when lightly tapped.  

  This method of stretching a canvas is the classical way, that my mentor taught me as it was taught to him.  This technique has been passed on for several generations of oil painters and is an invaluable lesson to learn.  Even if your going to end up slightly lazy as I am and purchase pre-stretched canvases.  I do suggest that the student of oil painting stretch a minimum of twenty canvases, and I bet you will do more than that.  I did.  

5 (plausible) reasons Vincent Van Gogh was ignored.

We all know the name Vincent Van Gogh.  I have never met an artist that said "I don't like the paintings of Van Gogh."  Our current generation of artists and patrons of the arts are slightly programed to like him as a result of his lack of patronage during his life.  It's true, and its okay so just deal with it.
Why couldn't this master oil painter with more vision than any of his contemporaries sell his paintings.  I do not believe it was because of his work.  People buy what is good and there are always people willing to buy new ideas.  


Five (plausible) reasons Vincent Can Gogh was ignored in his life time.  

1.  He was crazy, and not in that cool I'm still kinda hip crazy who wants to be normal way.  He claimed to have hallucinated often (without drugs), some believe he may have had bipolar disorder or manic depression, or possibly even lead poisoning from the oil paint (which can make you very very crazy for short periods of time).  So seriously Van Gogh acted crazy often for reasons we can guess at but honestly can't explain without conjecture.
2.  He drove people away with his fits of madness.
3.  He was born in the wrong place and time resulting in the unpopularity of his works.
4.  He indulged in drinking, drugs, and absinth as often.

And the 5th (possible) reason Vincent Van Gogh was ignored

5.  He was clearly one of the greatest artists of our time.

Oddly, I have never paid all that much attention to the more popular works of Van Gogh.  I have had the pleasure of being able to truly observe one of his olive tree paintings for the last 20 years.  "Olive Trees" is on display at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts.  This is one of my many favorite works of art at the museum.

Vincent Van Gogh

1853-1890

"Olive Trees" 1889

Oil on canvas

"I dream of painting and then I paint my dream."

-Vincent Van Gogh

"Texture Campaign" series of paintings

This series of paintings was created between 2000 -2007 and there is a good story behind it all.  the majority of the works were early on, and only a few of the later ones were in the 2005 - 2007 years.

I exhibited these paintings for the first time at a gallery called "di Stilo" Gallery in Minneapolis, Minnesota.  It was a group exhibit that I curated titled "Priority Mail" with 20 artists.  On opening night we had well over 2,000 people in to see the show.  Opening night was a great success.  

Then it all went wrong.  Over the next few weeks, artists that the gallery owner had worked with in the past started showing up demanding money, their work, or a chance to scream at anyone involved with the gallery.  Then the owner of the gallery sold our work and kept the money, changed the locks and did his best to defame our character publicly to make himself look like a victim just as he had done to many artists before us. 

that sucked...

...then a few years later a buddy of mine told me to check out a website link ultrawiredsex.com from some net porn.  I took a look and wow, I found my paintings.  So my paintings have been in porn.

One of my many stolen works, and a porn-star, oh ya.

funny thing is...

...I think I know some of these girls and I might have actually just gave them away while I was not quite in my right mind.  Who can truly remember those days.

Artist statement

This series seeks to interpret the narrative of the mental state of those involved in war, either as civilians or soldiers.  The expressive nature of each piece dictates a moment of thought and a pictorial representation of their titles.  Although the association of color, composition and surface combined with the context of direct word association is used to express each mental state, these works are a collective representation of a single mental state.  Each painting leads to the next and are to be read like a book, in hopes of initiating a catharsis and understanding of emotional suffering during and after a war.

Adam M. Considine 2004

Texture Campaign 1 "Chrome parade of the Workers" 

oil and chrome on canvas

70" x 30"

Texture Campaign 2 "I Don't" 

oil and chrome on canvas

24" x 32" 

Texture Campaign 3 "Logical Conclusion"  

oil on canvas

30" x 70"

Texture Campaign 4 "Eye on You"  

oil on canvas

30" x 15"

Texture Campaign 5 "The Homeland A&B" 

oil on canvas

45" x 85"

Texture Campaign 6 "Searching for a Dialysis Machine" 

oil on canvas

HUGE!!!

Texture Campaign 7 "The Refuges Landscape a" 

oil on canvas

36" x 36" 

Texture Campaign 8 "The Refuges Landscape b" 

oil on canvas

36" x 36"

Texture Campaign 9 "The Best of us Just Died"  

oil on canvas

20" x 60"

Texture Campaign 10 "Secrets" 

oil on canvas

36" x 48"

Texture Campaign 11 "Ruth"

oil on canvas

74" x 44" 

Texture Campaign 12 "Baseball with Ra a" 

oil and gold leaf on canvas

70" x 30" 

Texture Campaign 13 "Baseball with Ra b" 

oil and gold leaf on canvas

70" x 15" 

Texture Campaign 14 "Baseball with Ra c" 

oil and gold leaf on canvas

9.5" x 7.5"

Texture Campaign 15 "Baseball with Ra d"  

oil and gold leaf on canvas 

15" x 10"

Texture Campaign 16 "Valued Customer a" 

oil and gold leaf on canvas

60" x 48" 

Texture Campaign 17 "Valued Customer b" 

oil on canvas

48" x ?" 

Texture Campaign 18 "the 1980's" 

oil and polychrome on linen

36" x 24" 

Texture Study a 

oil on canvas

12" x 12" 

Texture Study b  

oil on canvas

24" x 48"

Texture Study c  

oil on canvas

20" x 60"

Texture Study d 

oil on canvas

22" x 18"

Texture Study e 

oil and chrome on canvas

11" x 5" 

Texture Study f 

oil on canvas

30" x 15" 

Texture study g 

oil on canvas

9" x 24" 

Texture Study h 

oil on canvas

11" x 8" 

Texture Study i 

oil on canvas

16" x 32" 

Texture Study j 

oil on canvas

32" x 22" 

Texture Study k 

oil on canvas

24" x 48" 

Texture painting Final

Here is the finished Oil painting.

Texture Campaign #16 "Valued Customer a" 60x48

2007 

Artwork of the month: Catherine A. Palmer.

I met Catherine A. Palmer in 1997 at Cafe Wyrd.  I was exhibiting my latest landscapes and she was commenting on them.  I pretended to not be the artist, she caught me in the lie, and then we talked for several hours about art and life.

We have been good friends since.  I would in fact consider her family.

I love her work, and I have been fortunate enough to exhibit with Catherine sine 1997.  Catherine has exhibited everywhere you can think of in Minneapolis since 1997.  Her work is in private collections throughout the U.S. and I happen to own several.  

I love coffee and I love this painting.

I own this painting.  It was one of my favorites so she gave it to me.

I have a lot of history with Catie, and I can say that she is one of the hardest working artists in Minneapolis.  

"Don't eat the paint."

-Catherine A. Palmer

2.3.1_On the choice of surface for the application of oil paint.

2.3.1  On the choice of surface for the application of oil paint.

     Lets keep this simple, and talk briefly on the types of surfaces that I have painted on.  An oil painter typically choses canvas or panel to work on.  Most seeing only these two commonly used surfaces as options disregard other useful surfaces.  Realistically, if you can imagine a surface, it can be painted on with oil paints with the proper preparations.

Like any tool, the choices of surfaces to paint on are a preference for the artist to make per concept.  That choice of surface should simply be one of personal preference but a decision based on the intended concept of the oil painting.  Different ideas demand different surfaces, and some concepts require a rough canvas, where others will ask for the smooth surface of a panel.  Personal preference is everything.  All artists will work with what they identify with, that results in style, as style and singular visions should be avoided.  Making a decision on what type of surface to use is personal and conceptual.  There are an infinite number of choices to paint on, and again the artist will know what surface is best for a work of art.

Compositional oil painting, or communicative oil painting that opens a dialogue with an intended audience demands that the artist use only the materials that are conceptually important to achieve the end result of the artist’s concept and intended form of communication. 

  Both canvas and panel have limits and strengths.  The canvas, if stretched properly, is as firm of a surface as a panel, and although canvas has a slight give to it as the brush eases against its surface, it is taunt enough to easily control.  This give should be barely noticeable, and it aids the painter’s ability with brush control.  Canvas has a bounce to it and if properly stretched should sound as a tight drum when tapped on.  I prefer the smooth texture of extra-fine linen.  Linen is stronger and more resilient than canvas.  Linen lasts longer and takes repairs better than canvas.  Linen is by far the best fabric surface to oil paint on as I am concerned as my experiences with painting on linen has always been favorable.  Within fabrics there are many selections of the type of weave from the smooth to rough, along with the weight, heavy to light the weave of a canvas will determine how your oil paint lays on the surface.

  A wood surface is the premium choice of panel for the oil painter. It is absorbent, and strong with a little flex which leads to the permanence of the work.  A wood panel is solid which protect the longevity of the painting; and depending on the type of wood used, the grain shows little of itself through the oils over time.  If prepared properly, the wood grain will never show itself in the face of the painting.   

  Oil paints can be painted on metal surfaces like copper, steel, iron, bronze, and aluminum.  Oil paints on metals dry slower than on other more absorbent surfaces and if the metal surface is not prepared properly the oil paint will crack and possibly (probably) flake off as the oils cure.  Very few oil paintings on metal surfaces that have not blistered or pealed or flaked off through time.  The oil medium has also been known to simply leak out the front of the painting with nothing to absorb into.  It is best to use enamel paints on metal.  I still feel that there is no real way to know how long oil paint will last on metal surfaces. 

In regards to painting on aluminum, I warn the oil painter to simply avoid it.  Oil paint has been proven to not adhere to aluminum unless the surface is first treated by anodizing the surface.  Aluminum must be treated with a heavy coat of aluminum oxide, it is permanent and absorbent enough for oils to stay in place as they cure.  Without treating the aluminum, the oil pigments will fall off once they are dry.  I have used stainless steel once, and it is a better surface than aluminum to paint on, although it reacts much like aluminum unless treated properly.  I would just simply avoid oil painting on metal unless your idea is based on the process simply because oil painting on metal is a pain in the ass.  If you are going to use oil paints on any metal surface I suggest deeply scratching the surface with a corse sandpaper and sharp tool.  The scratches will give the paint something to cling to as it dries.

  I worked on glass once and it just sucked.  A client commissioned me to paint a landscape on glass in oil paints, so I had to do it.  Painting on glass is much like painting on metal.  Its surface is slick and oils glide regardless of what type of preparation you work into the surface.  Just avoid oil painting on glass, it is stupid, just stupid.

  

  Preparing any surface to paint on varies with each type of material.  Oil painting surfaces must be primed with something.  Oil pigments use a vehicle to bind the pigments together and they normally contain linolenic acid which will destroy the fabric fibers over time.  So primer truly is there to protect the life of an oil painting.  There are two standards:  Gesso, and rabbit skin glue.  Rabbit Skin Glue was the preferred method for traditional oil painters during the renaissance.  I used rabbit skin glue as a part of my training as an oil painter, but I truly prefer oil based gesso.  

  The way I have applied gesso is simple and time consuming.  Gesso is liquid plaster that comes in both an oil-based and acrylic water-based medium.  Brush an even coat of Gesso to your chosen surface, allow it to thoroughly dry.  With the finest grade sandpaper, sand down the gesso evenly, and then re-apply a second coat; again sanding the surface down evenly.  Repeat this process as many times as needed to acquire a smooth, even, painting surface.  A better method to apply gesso to an unprimed surface is to lay your surface on its back.  Mix an oil based gesso and wipe on a very thin coat with a rag, gently rubbing the gesso into the weave of the fabric.  Allow your first coat to dry and repeat two more times.  Preparing your painting surface with Gesso as a base primer to apply oil paints to is necessary so that the oils have something other than the surface material to absorb into.

Preparing your canvas prior to stretching it is a fools errand.  Unless the canvas comes pre-primed, priming it un-stretched ends in a disaster every time.  The weave of your fabric will shrink unevenly and cause wavy movement in your canvas, and eventually if not immediately, will just crack and flake off after you stretch it.  

  Some artists have chosen not to prime their painting surface, applying oil paints directly to the material.  Francis Bacon painted on the backs of pre-primed canvas.  Where the first intended mark was permanent and virtually unchangeable.  This is fine, but eventually the oils will destroy the fabric.  

  I like to use pre-stretched Belgium antwerp linen, portrait grade triple primed with oil based gesso.  Pre-stretched linen is expensive, but to properly stretch and prime a linen surface is very time consuming.  Time is money and I would rather pay for the consistent surface most art stores offer.  I have stretched my own canvas many times, and although the process is necessary in the training of an artist, it teaches the artist what to look for in a pre stretched canvas.  It is rewarding in the training and knowledge, but its very time consuming.  

When it comes down to it, simply paint on anything you want...

...I like linen.