Spaces Between The Gaps: original art paintings

Setting Up an Art Fair or Market Stall

Thursday, November 03, 2011

The stall of WhereFishSing aka artist Fiona Morgan at the Ballarat Artisan Fair 2011

Set up of my stall in progress for the Ballarat Artisan Fair

Ballarat Artisan Fair. This Friday, Saturday and Sunday 4th, 5th & 6th November 2011. The Mining Exchange, 8 Lydiard St, Ballarat, Victoria, Australia (just a few doors down from the Ballarat Fine Art Gallery). 10am - 4pm each day. Some forty or so regional artists will be displaying and selling their creations, along with music, coffee, nibbles, artists talks and demonstrations. Come along if you can.

Today has been consumed with the set up of my stall at the Ballarat Artisan Fair. This is the first time I've prepared for an art fair. It's taken several weeks to get everything together, from varnishing all the (70+) paintings, to sourcing gift bags (that never arrived!) to printing promotional material. Below is a list of everything I've been able to think of to take along or have prepared. I'll append it afterwards as there are bound to be new insights gained from participating in the event.

Table

Trestle table or two
Many markets require a white table cover, so get a white sheet or two, or something nicer such as velvet (not velveteen as it looks cheap) or satin or canvas
Large butterfly clips for clipping tablecloth to table, and gaffa tape the same colour as the table cover for hiding the clips
Clamps for backup clipping tablecloth to table
A bucket or box as a bin for under your table is rather handy

Promotional material

Business name banner with rope & eyelets and gaffa tape for hanging options
Business cards
Email list signup sheet on clipboard (essential!!)
Pens for signup sheet, attached by string
Postcards of artwork
Photo books of artwork - show off more than you can bring on the day as interested people may ask for a commission based on what they see you are capable of
Photo board of artwork - lots of artwork to choose from on the day but too many paintings to display at once? Show photo samples of your full range. Individual artworks can be shown on request.
Artist statement for display, possibly laminated
Price tags, ready and blank (who knows what will happen on the day and how many you will need)
Nice paper to print out price tags and artist statement and any other small signage

Displaying artwork

Figure out the stall design and layout first
Builders level for getting frames hung straight (so good)
Wire/hooks/picture hooks (a roll of fencing wire, some pliers and tin snips are super handy to make hooks of any size or strength)
Framing wire (make sure it's rated to cope with more than double the weight your work weighs)
Fishing wire to make a washing line artwork display (useful for giftcards and other small lightweight works)
Sinkers to weight down display wire to make it stay taught
Small bulldog clips x 24 for hanging unframed artwork washing line style (these are super handy)
Cotton gloves for handling artwork
Frames, ready to hang
Pliers - fat and thin
Hammer
Wirecutters (tinsnips are far more effective than the scissor part of pliers)
Screwdrivers - an assortment
Masking tape
Scissors
Gaffa tape / cloth tape in colours to match your display elements
Blu-tack
Double sided tape
Backboard/screen on which to hang artwork
Window cleaner and paper towels for cleaning the glass & frames - essential

Storing artwork

Portable box storage system
Glassine paper for unframed artwork

Looking after me

Portable music
Lunch - no heating required, not messy
Snacks - nuts, fruit, quick, not messy
Water - have two litres
Coffee, tea, hot drink in thermos or hot water plus bags/containers, milk
Camping chair or something to sit on, plus a cover to make this presentable

Selling artwork

Change from bank for cash sales
Cash storage - bumbag or tin or wallet
Credit card payment facilities - if not provided, take a laptop with easy access to the Paypal site, laptop power supply, powerboard and extension cord
Certificates of authenticity - ready to print (take printer, extension cord and spare ink) or already printed out in doubles and take carbon paper
Clip board with attached pen for filling out the COA's - very handy
Packaging for sold artwork - precut cardboard sleeves / boxes or gift bags and bubble wrap
Phone, charged up
Red dot stickers
Paintings, varnished and framed
Pencils
Pens
Notepads
Packing tape
Regular stickytape / sellotape

If you're an artist and have useful notes to add from your experiences of art fairs, please enlighten the rest of us in the comments.

Just a Coin Toss From Victory

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

It turns out that all art competitions are not created equal. Well of course I knew that. Entering a Henry Lawson festival art prize or a competition run by a primary school might be a bit of fun but seriously aren't likely to be smart career moves, for me at least.

Even among the appropriate competitions there are layers of career smartness. It turns out there is juried and non juried. Why I didn't clue into this earlier I don't know, but at least I do know after entering just two comps, not twenty.

Juried? Yes, as in preselected. As in quality control. As in anyone can enter but all entries are peer selected as worthy, a bit like scientific papers but a heck of a lot more subjective.

Not juried? As in anyone can enter and have the work hung. Not a bad thing to give everyone a go but not desirable to enhance a professional career.

Remember the Competition Flagbearer poll? It's where I asked your opinion on the painting that I should enter in the Barossa competition. "Wine, food and painting go together rather well, even if I am a little biased. The Barossa Fine Art Exhibition is part of The Barossa Vintage Festival 2011. It is a painting competition/prize based in the famous Barossa valley wine region in South Australia. The competition powers-that-be have a stated interest in the 'diversity of contemporary abstracts'. As you know, I have a tendency toward creating abstract paintings and I'm hoping one of my foodie inspired abstracts might be a better-than-crapshoot chance in this competition and catch the eye of the judges from this food and wine region. But which painting?"

With your help, I chose Okonomiyaki as the painting to put forward. A big thankyou for everyone who weighed in with their opinion!

After paying the entry fee, obtaining quotes from my framer for the strikingly modern framing, getting shipping quotes and estimating the travel and accommodation costs of attending the festival, it seemed like an awful lot of money to gamble. Which is when I had a closer look at the professional worth of the festival, realised it is NOT juried, and decided to pass.

Then this happened.

One of Australia's top art prizes was decided by the toss of a coin. Truly.

I'm flabbergasted.

All publicity is good eh? Sure.... there's one competition I won't be likely to enter! So insultingly cavalier with the artists expertise and time and money. They do not deserve entrants.

Let's just say I am now rather choosey about the competitions I enter, if I enter any at all.

art collection

How Do I Know What Art To Buy?

Thursday, April 28, 2011

Photo by E. Bartholomew

This article is cheekily brought to you by the Official Art Store for WhereFishSing, with the announcement that at last, all of the Autumn and Winter cookbook paintings have been released for sale. Yes, all the original paintings are now available to own.

How do I know what art to buy?
It's a common and understandable question. I'm interested in having some original art on my walls, but I'm not sure what art to buy.

But what? Perhaps a quick think about what art to avoid would make things clearer.

Mass produced prints vs original art

Let's start with mass produced prints vs original art. A mass produced print, say from Ikea, has absolutely no possibility of financial appreciation. You may like it, it may be convenient. Your cash will go into the pocket of a multinational and you own a pretty but worthless picture.

An original piece of art, no matter how obscure the artist, has some potential for financial appreciation. How much will vary from artist to artist. You will be able to find an original that you love just as much as any mass produced piece. It will be unique. Until you are used to seeing original art vs mass produced prints, you may not be aware that an original will have so much more detail and life to it. A piece produced by hand almost always has this extra dimension. Buying an original means your cash will go into the pocket of the artisan and will help enable them to make more of their unique, labour intensive pieces.

A quick FYI. An original painting is one of a kind. An original print is not a reproduction, but an original piece in it's own right. There will be a limited number of these produced by a hands on method. A reproduction print is a mechanical reproduction of another piece of art. Reproductions may be in limited or unlimited editions and these have the least value due to the fact that they are essentially authorised copies.

So where to start?

Look at art. Get to know your artists. Very quickly, actually instinctively, you will know what you like. You may have friends with similar taste. Ask them for artist recommendations.

Figure out your price range. There is a perception that original art is unaffordable to the average person. Not so. Have a look around, online and off. Truly, there is art for every budget. Not to mention, for every size of wall.

There's a final litmus test for any artwork

It's the most important criteria of all which puts all uncertainty into place. Do you love it? While there's no guarantee that any original will realise the potential for financial growth, you can guarantee that you'll be gazing on this artwork for years to come. Does it make you feel? If not, pass. But if it's a source of happiness, if you would love to be living with it and it's in your price range, give Ikea a skip and go for it.

If you're thinking of starting a collection of art, you may also find 'Beginning your own art collection' useful.

Excited by the potential of owning an affordable original piece of art? Why not head on over to the Official Art Store for WhereFishSing and see if there's something there that sings to you.

Sunday Salon - the More On Monday Edition

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

ancient artist

Sunday Salon, Another Feature!

Monday, October 18, 2010

art painters

And Featured Again!

Wednesday, October 06, 2010

art painters

WhereFishSing in the Arts Media

Tuesday, October 05, 2010

acrylic painting

More About Artists Canvas - A Final Word

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Photo courtesy of patrizia_ferri

As the final installment of my investigations into artist's canvas, this time I'm looking at canvas keys, gallery wrapped canvas vs traditional profile canvas and the idea of unstretched canvas.

Previous related posts cover all about painting substrates, all about the types of artists canvas and stretching your own canvas.

Canvas Keys

Some stretched canvasses come with little wooden wedges. What are these for? They are known as canvas keys. They should fit into slots in the inner corners of the canvas stretcher. They are a traditional method for tightening up a canvas that has begun to sag. Unfortunately, they are not a very good method for doing this. Any canvas that has developed a sag should be carefully taken off it's stretcher and re-stretched.

Using canvas keys to take the sag out of a painting risks damaging the painting. It is possible to accidentally hammer the back of the painting if the keys are missed, breaking the paint. Using keys puts a great deal of stress on the corners of a painting which can eventually tear the canvas. The keys will invariably change the shape of the stretcher and it will no longer be square and the painting may no longer fit into it's frame, if it had one.

Skip the dodgy canvas keys. Traditional, but not very smart. Take the canvas off the stretcher altogether and re-stretch it!

This video explains the same information in visual form:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tSLhkuFO3G0

Bracing a Stretched Canvas

A canvas stretcher or strainer is under quite a bit of tension once a canvas has been secured onto it. They are usually made from timber and so are prone to warping under tension and changing atmospheric conditions. It is recommended that they include a cross-bar every 60 cm (or 2 feet) or so in each direction to help prevent any warping.

Traditional Stretched Canvas

A traditional stretched canvas requires framing. The tacks or staples show on the sides of the finished piece. Traditional canvases also tend to have a shallow profile. They are usually only about half an inch thick from the back of the canvas to the front.

Gallery Wrapped Canvas

This is a very modern style of stretching canvas. The canvas is wrapped around two edges of the stretcher bars and secured at the back where the staples or tacks can't show. Often the sides are painted. No visible staples or nails means a neat finish is achieved and no framing is required. Usually this style has quite a deep profile, more than an inch thick from the back of the canvas to the front, though they can also be shallow. The deep profile is the current trend.

Artists love gallery wrapped canvas as their artworks are ready to hang as soon as the varnish is dry. Many art collectors prefer it too as it allows them to skip the often substantial costs of framing. Anecdotally, gallery wrapped canvasses nearly put many framers out of business when it first came out as so many people suddenly didn't require their services. Though if you prefer your art in a frame, as some do, gallery wrapped canvas can be framed if you want.

Unstretched Canvas

It was a revelation to me when I was introduced to the idea of working on unstretched canvas. I was at the exhibition opening of a local artist who had oil pastel paintings on massive canvasses about 1 x 2 m. They were unstretched and looked wonderful.

Depending on your point of view, unstretched canvas is either fabulous or awful to paint on. It has a very different working feel to the drum-like bounce of a stretched canvas. To me it's wonderful and predictable. The give in the surface of a stretched canvas is something I find disconcerting. Different artists, different preferences. I guess it's like working on fabric textured board or paper.

For the artist there are some significant advantages to working on canvas unstretched. There are time savings as no pre-stretching is required. There are financial savings as no stretchers need to be bought. There are space savings as unused canvas can be stored rolled and once painted, can be stacked flat. Believe me, plain canvas takes up a LOT less room than a stack of stretched canvasses. And lastly, unstretched canvas is cheaper to post for a buyer as it weighs less.

For the art collector, unstretched canvas can be presented in a number of already familiar ways. It can be lightly stretched onto stretchers/strainers and ends up looking just like regular stretched canvas. Or it can be framed just like any paper artwork. For extra rigidity, it can be mounted (glued) to board before framing. All very normal procedures for your framer.

The only downside to unstretched canvas that I can see is that someone needs to frame it.

Diary of Becoming - Round Eight - June 2010

Wednesday, July 07, 2010

Ah goodness, no, it hasn't been a month already has it? Surely not. Where the bleep am I up to? Need sleep.

What's happened?

The freelance/contract medical illustration project is still on. It feels as though it's been going on forever. I'm tired of being tired. Ten hour days as standard is too much. Trying to remind myself that it will all be over by this time next month. Looking forward to being able to exclusively concentrate on the cookbook.

Despite constantly feeling that I have too much to do, the Official Art Store is up! Very-Limited-Edition prints available now of all artwork done so far. From now on, as each recipe is posted it's artwork is available immediately. Please note that the current viewing pics are fairly quick camera shots of each piece and these pics will slowly be replaced with ones of higher quality as I have them scanned for me. If there's an image you like and you want to see a better quality version of it, let me know and I'll prioritise its scanning for you.

Also this month managed to set up the template for the newsletter for collectors. If you've signed up to receive this, I may actually send out the first somewhat monthly mailing soon. If you've not signed up, the yellow box top left is where your email address goes :)

And I managed the scary asking for help. Yes! Got it. Then it disappeared. Ah well, the asking was the hard. Now to try that again.

Learnings

The biggest learning for this month is that painting while upset or off centre is pretty much pointless. Either the ideas suck or the execution of a great concept goes pear shaped. So the painting something every day is an interesting idea, but not necessarily workable for me. The time when I'm unsettled is not the time to paint. That's the time to do other stuff such as coding, administrivia, PR etc. Figuring out ways to help get me back to centre FAST is a high priority.

A smaller learning for me is that I kinda think acrylic paints stink a bit. The colour shift, the too-fast drying time, the handling compared to oils. Part of this is unfamiliarity. Part of this is technical annoyances. So I've got me some drying inhibitor to see if my biggest gripe with this medium can be coaxed into a

Get done for July

A new approach to the ~~PR campaign~~ Collective Merrymaking. Do one of these a day (there are around 15 lined up), then send all these to my help as examples and get a bigger campaign done for me. Sounds like a plan. Nothing happened in this department last month and it really shows in the traffic stats.

Figuring out ways to help get me back to centre FAST. This is more than the 'take a walk', 'drink plenty of water', 'have a hot shower or bath' type of remedy. All of these are great, but I'm after the 'pressing issue needs attention and major soothing right now' kind of remedies. I suspect Havi's monster talking and Shivanautical dancing are the sorts of ideas I'm looking for. Just a hunch.

clean up

Artist's Oil Paints & Simple Non Toxic Cleaning Up

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Non toxic cleaning of artists oil paints using vegetable cooking oil

Photo by dugspr — Home for Good

It has been a boon of a discovery to me to stumble across a cheap, simple and non toxic way of cleaning up my brushes and palette after a session of oil painting. I swear, I wasn't even looking, and when I did come across this, I could not believe just how straightforward this is. It's so simple you may laugh in amazement and wonder why, just as I did, we are all taught to use turps, mineral spirits or OMS (odourless mineral spirits) to remove residual oil paint, when in fact, it's plain daft to be using these substances.

Let me explain.

The aim is to remove the oil paint from brushes and the palette. Using OMS and its cousins, paint is stripped away. As far as cleaning goes, it does work. But there are numerous problems with these substances. Stripping the paint also dries out and can eventually crack your palette. It also 'eats' the synthetic brush bristles or dries out the natural bristles making then brittle and less flexible. Either way, over time it destroys your brushes. Then there is the problem of OMS being a carcinogen that enters your body through inhalation or when you get it all over your skin. And it's a nonrenewable petroleum product. And it's an environmental hazard. Suffice to say, it's pretty bad stuff.

The other way to remove the oil paint from brushes and the palette is not to strip it off, but to dilute it and wash it away. So what other substances dilute oil paint? The answer is other oils. Um, like supermarket variety vegetable cooking oil.

Yes, bog standard vegetable cooking oil. Unlike OMS and it's cousins, vegetable oil is kind to your palette, effectively moisturises or conditions your brushes, is not a carcinogen (actually not harmful at all, you eat it), is a renewable plant resource and not harmful to the environment. It's one huge win all round.

So how do you use vegetable oil to clean your brushes? Easy peasy. Like this:

Wipe off as much excess paint onto a rag or paper towel as possible.

Swirl the brushes in a jar filled with vegetable oil to remove as much paint as you can.

Wipe the brushes cleanish on a rag or paper towel.

Give the brushes a final swirling, one at a time, in a second jar only partly filled with vegetable oil. When this jar's oil has become too filthy I decant this oil into another big jar. Then I put in another small amount - about an inch - of fresh oil into the second jar for the final swirling of the next few brushes.

Then I wash the brushes in soap or dishwashing liquid and warm water, and carefully dry and shape them. (update - I have also discovered Disolv non toxic oil clean up for professional artists for this step and it is truly a wonder product made from waxes and detergents. It's an Australian made product too!)

Now they are as clean as they would be using OMS, as well as lovely and soft. My hands don't stink or have skin flaking off them and my head doesn't pound from the fumes that hang about for hours even with all the windows open. Win win win.

And what happens with the used oil? It gets tipped into a big jar and left alone to let the paint settle to the bottom. Then the usable oil is tipped out and reused, and the sludge at the bottom is disposed of.

Oh by the way, another little tip. When soaping up the brushes, it's wise to not use your palm to work the soap into the brush. If you do, trace amounts of pigment enter your body via the skin and over time these build up and some of them are quite nasty. I always work the soap into the brush against the bottom of the sink or in another jar or I wear a glove. It's also why I use (environmentally friendly) dishwashing liquid as it gets into the bristles and removes the oil a lot more easily than hard soap.

Diary of Becoming - Round Eight - May 2010

Tuesday, June 08, 2010

It's Winter here, so what's the good news?

Aside from finally raining this winter, unlike the past 11 or so, and not being too cold - yet, my business cards have arrived! Big yay. Very excited. They're actually a stamp. The perfect use for all those skinny lengths of canvas and lovely artist's papers that I end up with after cutting the main piece to size for an artwork. And far more creative, individual, unusual and sustainability minded than any business card from a printers.

More promotional business, my first ever press release seemed to do OK. It was listed at PR Log which seems to be a useful free service that gets a LOT of traffic. I scored 214 unique hits (to the press release) in 2 weeks. Not bad for an evening's writing. The bummer is that none of that seemed to be ongoing, unlike telling everyone I know about the project which brings people back to WhereFishSing again and again. The next PR stage is to contact individual high traffic websites (Quantcast is useful here) that are likely to be interested in the cookbook project. Likely due to shared attitudes and interests. I'll let you know next month how this goes.

On to the painting - I has acrylic paints! While I love oil paints - the brushfeel, the lustre, the blending- I hate the drying time. Wainting days for a layer to dry is just way too long for some of the styles of painting I am trying out along with the schedule of the cookbook. The 20 or so minutes of acrylics is far more workable. So far so good, though I think they smell terrible.

I also have linen canvas, and more of my favourite filbert brushes to play with. The linen is usually hideously expensive. As in over a hundred dollars a metre. However, the wonderful people at Chapman & Bailey also sell their offcuts. These are small pieces but they happen to be the perfect size for the paintings I am doing for the cookbook - 30 x 30cm or 1 foot square. They sold a bunch of offcuts to me for a price similar to regular cotton duck canvas. I am thrilled. I get to try out the ultimate painting fabric before being a sqillionaire.

On top of all this goodness, a freelance medical illustration project has come in, which has eased the cashflow situation. Between this and the hours I am doing on the cookbook, my days are long. This is not sustainable long term, but it will only last until the end of July. I suspect my time management is going to be much improved by then, which can only be a good thing.

And lastly, I think I might finally have learned to sleep when tired. Flu all around me avoided and more work than usual done. Nanna napping is cool.

The list for June

Pretty similar to last months, but this time, with the addition of getting help.
The ~~PR campaign~~ Collective Merrymaking has begun, but time is short for me, so I am seeking help while I'm overloaded to get these things done. I'm a real do it yourself kind of person, so letting some things go to another person is kinda a big deal. But I can do it.

Release the fully stocked Official Art Store. Again I need help. It's now ready to roll except all the paintings so far need to be scanned. A big job. So, time to ask for help.

Paint, paint, paint! It's taken a while, however I am finally (almost) in the swing of painting every day. At the moment it's 'most days'. Perhaps that needs to be my aim, to take it up a notch and aim to paint *something* every working day. That's a good one, it's much more specific.

acrylic painting

Gesso vs Primer vs Grounds vs Size - What's the Difference?

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Preparing to paint - Gesso, Primer, Grounds, Size

Photo thanks to Anita Thomhave Simonsen

Size, primer and gesso. If you're anything like me, you're probably as confused as *** when it comes to these and preparing a surface for painting. Not any more. This post aims to clean away the mud and is a companion post to the one last month on painting substrates. So if you want to know what substrate is usable and whether it requires sizing or priming or both, check it out. This one is about the actual size and primer options. And some of it is straight from the wonderful AMIEN forums. Go check them out for all your technical artist materials questions.

Why Size?

Okay, here we go. Raw canvas, or any oil painting substrate, requires a barrier between itself and the oil paint. This is to prevent the paint sinking in to the surface (makes for terrible colour) and also to prevent the oils in the paint attacking and rotting the substrate (a nasty habit of oil paints).

In the case of acrylic paints, a barrier between the paint and substrate is required to prevent Support Induced Discoloration (SID) which is something that occurs in acrylic paints and mediums only. Many common artist supports have impurities that can discolor a translucent acrylic gel layer or color glaze, and a barrier must be applied to ensure the products stay clear as the films dry.

As an acrylic paint film cures, the water exits two ways: through the surface of the paint and through the back of the support, if it is porous enough. Canvas, linen, wood and masonite are all porous enough to allow water to absorb into them. During this drying process, the water is actually in equilibrium moving back and forth between the acrylic paint and the support. The water extracts water-soluble impurities such as dirt, sap, starches, etc., from the support and deposits them into the acrylic film. The result is a discolored (typically amber) film, with the degree of discoloration dependent on the amount of contaminants deposited and the inherent level of inpurities in the support.

SID contamination often goes undetected. In most cases, the paints applied contain a sufficient level of pigment, thus a strong enough color, to conceal the yellowing. However, in a transparent glaze and especially in thick translucent gel layers, SID becomes quite noticeable. SID can transform the appearance of an Ultramarine Blue glaze into a lower chroma, greenish color. Gesso alone will not stop SID, and different gels and mediums have varying degrees of blocking capabilities.

The acrylic dispersion mediums, paints and primers do absorb and expell moisture for about a year after they are applied -- or less time if the environment is warm and dry. After that's finished the resins coalesce into a more continuous film. They are still susceptible to moisture penetration, but not to the degree that puts them at the same risk as RSG. And it's preventable by coating the finished paintings.

In summary, for both oil and acrylic paints, it is wise to put a barrier between the paint and it's substrate. This barrier is known as size. It is meant to be a penetrating sealer, not a coating. It is therefore very thin, using it is good practice, and it's very easy to do.

Ancient and Modern Size

Traditional size for oil paints is a (disgusting I say) concoction of rabbit skin collagin heated with water. Although this has been used for hundreds of years it is know known by conservators to cause more problems than it solves. How? RSG is hygroscopic. It continuously absorbs moisture from the atmosphere, causing it to continuously swell and shrink. Over time, this constant flexing causes the oil paint on top, which is quite brittle, to crack. In fact, RSG is now believed to be the main cause of cracking in old oil paintings.

Instead of RSG underneath oil paintings, it is now recommended to use a pH neutral PVA or any acrylic medium whose manufacturer recommends it as a size. Please remember that PVA size or acrylic medium does not tighten fabric like rabbit skin glue.

Underneath acrylic paints, the best choice is acrylic medium whose manufacturer recommends it as a size that can block SID - a blocking size. A blocking size will be formulated to inhibit the migration of soluble organic materials from the support through to the ground. Two that are often mentioned are Gamblin’s PVA size and Golden Acrylics’ GAC100. Liquitex makes one as well, as I am sure others do too.

Two coats of size on the front of a substrate are sufficient. They should be touch dry and not cold to touch (which indicates moisture) before the next layer is added.

Why Prime?

Priming is the adding of an absorbent coating to a substrate. The aim is to provide the paint with a porous surface to adhere to. Primer is also known as ground or gesso. It is not size and will not seal or create a barrier to the paint. It does exactly the opposite. It is absorbent and provides tooth, or texture for the paint. It also tends to stiffen the substrate.

Usually two coats of primer is used.

Just for the record, you don't need to prime unless you want the surface that priming gives. You can paint directly onto modern size (but not RSG).

All About Gesso

Traditional gesso

Real or traditional gesso is for hard inflexible surfaces only. It is too brittle for canvas and will crack. Real gesso is like a plaster and is ideal on wood panels. It is made from a thin base of RSG and inert white pigments. The pigment is powdered chalk, calcium or gypsum. Sometimes titanium white pigment is also added to the mix for brightness.

This zinc oxide in the ground is a problem in terms of archival quality. Paint over zinc oxide and within a few years time the painting is likely to be delaminating or cracking.

Modern gesso

Gesso changed in the 20th century. In 1955, Liquitex, an acrylic paint company developed the first water-based acrylic gesso. It provided a consistent and inexpensive primer layer for both acrylic and oil paintings. Technically it is an acrylic dispersion primer, not a gesso, but it is mostly known as acrylic gesso or acrlyic primer. This is the only choice of primer available for use under acrylic paints.

Oil gesso

It's really useful to remember that an oil-primed canvas can only accept oil paints. Although oil paint can be applied to acrylic gesso, acrylic paint will not permanently adhere to an oil-primed canvas. The acrylic gesso will eventually peel off the oil-primed canvas.

Today there are two alternatives to traditional gesso with it's RSG content. There are oil/alkyd grounds which are the quickest drying option. And there is lead white oil primer. The latter is somewhat hazerdous to use. Don't smoke or eat in your studio. Use a barrier cream on your hands or wear thin rubber gloves so the lead can't penetrate your skin. Use odorless mineral spirits to thin the primer, not gum turpentine; odorless mineral spirits is hazardous but not as hazardous as regular mineral spirits and definitely not as hazardous as gum turpentine. In any event, you will want good ventilation when using these solvents: at least work near an exhaust fan. Thoroughly wash your hands when you are finished.

For the lead white oil primer you will have to apply at least 2 thinned coats. Allow perhaps a week for the drying of the initial coating, depending on the temperature and humidity of your studio. If it is dry to the touch after a few days, then you can go ahead and apply the second coat. After you apply the second coat, check to see that the coverage is good. You might want a third coat.

So there are three choices for priming for oil paints. Acrylic gesso and two kinds of oil based gesso.

Acrylic grounds under oils

In recent years, some artists have begun to question whether or not acrylic gesso is the right product to use under oil paint. Acrylic dispersion grounds retain their flexibility as they age, and the oil/alkyd grounds get stiffer and more brittle as they age. There is concern that this difference in flexibility may cause oil paintings on acrylic grounds to delaminte as they age.

The best current knowledge is that they are considered very good grounds for oil paints, with two caveats. 1.) You must purchase the highest quality ground you can find. That means: do not by acrylic dispersion grounds by price, and be sure the label tells you what's in the stuff. If you're unsure about the latter, call the manufacturer. 2.) Oil paints ought to be painted on rigid substrates. If the acrylic dispersion ground is applied to a panel, or to a fabric mounted on a panel, there should be no problems.

For a better bond with oil paint, after the acrylic primer is dry (when it's no longer cool to the touch is a good indicator) you should wipe this surface down with warm water and a clean rag to remove surfactants and allow to dry again (24-48 hrs) before applying oil based paints.

Linky Goodness

Amien forums

Golden Paints technical info

Gamblin & size

Liquitex pdf book on acrylics

Diary of Becoming - Round Seven - April 2010

Tuesday, May 04, 2010

Two seconds To help me out...

I have a price point in mind but want to make sure it's in keeping with what my fans are thinking. When this point is cleared up, all the paintings will be made available to own.

How much would you be willing to pay for one of my 30 x 30cm cookbook original oil on canvas artworks?

Turbocharging moments of last month

In a moment of true serendipity, Google Adwords randomly sent me an offer by snail mail for free money. True. In the form of a voucher to be spent on advertising. Well hey, where do I sign? And so I got a neat little Adwords campaign together which brought a bunch of vege minded folks to my site who were actually looking for what I have and it cost me zilch. Brilliant. Thanks Google. Send me free money anytime.

While on this little roll I pulled my finger out and told every friend and contact I have about this project. Lots of positive feedback and passing it on. Thankyou to everyone I know! You all rock. And if you, yes YOU reading this now, if you are liking this project PASS IT O N if you haven't already. It really makes a difference.

I can tell from my stats that a bunch of new people are being reached just from these two steps.

Enthused with this success I updated my LinkedIn details at last and added the blog RSS feed to keep it current. Too early to see if that has any effect.

And then I went Facebook wrangling and won. Did you know that you can put your newsletter signup box on your fan page? I didn't. It's a bit fiddly, as I find all things FB to be. Basically, do a search in FB for 'Static FBML'. It's an application that can be added to your page. After adding, go to your page and choose edit page. Then find and edit the application and paste in the code for your newsletter signup. Let it add a tab and a box. Then choose link to this tab. That should make your signup appear in the sidebar of your wall. And then test, wrangle, test.

Speaking of wrangling, that reminds me of zen cart. The online shopping cart is even more functional than last month, but not quite complete. I keep plugging away at it and it gets ever closer. A somewhat larger task than I had initially thought. Still, once it's done it's done. And it is coming along rather well.

The final spark of april awesome was scouting and locating two ideal exhibition spaces. Both are high traffic main street locations. Both are funky in their own way. Neither have anything to do with traditional art galleries. One is definitely a very reasonable price, the other is likely to be the same. Lots of freedom to cook up a unique exhibition able to be seen by lots of people for low dollars. Me happy.

And a bit of sputtering
Test the chosen book printers. It's still a faceoff between Blurb, CreativeSpace and Lulu. Because we have a wee cash crunch going on. Which sucks. Which is being worked through. But which so far has gotten in the way of getting things done such as testing book printers and getting business cards.

See Two seconds To help me out... to help me solve this.

The list for May
Concoct and encourage the ~~PR campaign~~ Collective Merrymaking
Release the fully stocked Official Art Store
Paint, paint, paint!

artists guide

A Diary of Becoming - Round Six - March 2010

Wednesday, April 07, 2010

art

Artist's Canvas Explained

Monday, March 15, 2010

Thanks to Cara B Anderson for the photo.

Not all canvas 'for artists' is actually any good. Here's my notes from educating myself, written up into a readable form.

Rolled and Stretched and Primed

Canvas for artists is generally available in three forms. Stretched (and primed), unstretched and primed and unstretched and unprimed.

Naturally the form that saves an artist the most time is also the most expensive as all the preparation work has been done. I am talking here about the prestretched and preprimed canvases. There is nothing to do but take any wrapping off and get to being creative. This is a time saver that is not to be underestimated. The down side of ready to go canvas is that you have to take what's on offer. Which is not necessarily so bad. However, if you are after a non standard size or are particular about the weight of canvas on which you work or fussy about the gesso used and the surface finish you like to paint on, then the small number of options of prestretched canvas will probably drive you nuts.

So on to unstretched canvas. This is usually priced per length from a roll and cut when you buy. There is a lot more choice with this form of canvas, but some preparation work before painting.

Unstretched canvas does not have to be stretched onto a frame, but that is the conventional way. It is perfectly possible to work on canvas as you do a piece of paper. The stretching is to give a nice flat and smooth surface to paint on. Most painters like the bounce or give in a canvas stretched on a frame. I'm not going to give a how to on stretching canvas right here, but just say that if you buy canvas off a roll, you are more than likely going to stretch it onto a frame yourself. That takes time, of course. But you can make the frame any crazy size you want.

Canvas bought from a roll comes in two forms. Primed and unprimed. Primed means that once you've managed the stretching, you can get right to painting. Probably a good choice for an unusual sized frame where you're not too fussy about the gesso primer and the finish of the surface you paint on. Although it is certainly possible to reprime and/or sand a preprimed canvas to your heart's content.

The most labour intensive, for the artist, is to use unprimed unstretched canvas. Here you will be both stretching and priming your painting surface. If you are super particular about your painting surface, this one's for you. Though be warned, you will spend about half your 'painting time' in stretching and priming. But you will be able to get *exactly* what you want.

But There's Canvas and There's Canvas

That was meant to be a quick rundown on the forms that art canvas comes in. There is also variation in the actual canvas itself.

Jute or hessian

Jute or hessian is dirt cheap, has a very rough and open weaved texture and quickly weakens and becomes brittle with age. Not recommended for longevity! But what a texture.

Synthetic canvas

There are synthetic canvases usually made from polyester. Photo or giclee printing onto canvas tends to use synthetic canvases. They tend to have a much more even, tight weave which lacks character. Or bestows supreme consistency, depending on your taste. They are said (by the manufacturers) to stand up much better than cotton and linen when exposed to the elements and to be immune to bacteria, mildew and air pollution. Professional art supply stores call synthetic canvas 'cheap' (which is quite an advantage, I think) and tend to take a sneering tone toward it. I have not managed to turn up any unbiased information on it's artistic archival properties (ie, how it reacts over time to gesso and paint), however the tent and boating industries sing the praises of synthetic canvas, citing it's longevity over traditional cotton canvas. And if it performs in those tough environments, the omens seem good to me. One to watch.

On blended yarns: "Blends of fibre (ie cotton/polyster or cotton/linen) should be avoided as the final product is usually unstable due to the different weights, strengths and characteristics of the two yarns. They are only suitable if the blend is in the thread, and exists in equal weight ratio in the warp and weft." Thanks.

Cotton duck

This is the one to go for if you are buying cotton canvas. It is more tightly woven than plain canvas. Cotton canvas is the most conventional surface for painting (oils and acrylics obviously). It's properties are well known and it's available everywhere. It is flexible, easy to stretch properly and not too expensive. For large paintings it is too flexible. Large being over a metre square.

Linen

From the flax plant. Belgian is considered the best. If you are after absolute quality, this is the type of canvas to go for. Although linen is difficult to prime and stretch properly, it has the best archival properties. Because it has less flexibility than cotton, it expands and contracts less with changes in temperature and humidity. This means the paint on top has a much more stable surface and is far less likely to crack. And it's strong and stiff enough to support large paintings (over 1m square). Cotton fibres are short and flat (only 4 to 5cm long) whereas linen fibres are round and can range from 25 to 90cm in length. Many painters also like the uneven, natural texture of linen. Oh, and by the way, it's brown.

How Much Does It Weigh and Why You Might Care

Just to be clear here, I'm talking about cotton and linen. The synthetic canvases are much stronger per weight, so these figures don't apply.

7-8 oz. Beware! Not good enough for long lasting art. Often used for prestretched canvases. Usually poor quality loose weave and not very stable or strong. Avoid.

10 oz. The world's most popular art canvas weight. Fine for small artworks or situations where there will be little strain on the canvas. The main thing to watch out for is that most cotton canvas of this weight is twice as strong in one direction than the other (2:1 weave). Which reduces its dimensional stability. Warp and weft threads should be of equal weight, strength and material. The ideal yarn is closely and tightly woven with a square (1:1 or 2:2) weave.

12-15 oz. The best weight for painting. Nice and strong. Now you know.

A Diary of Becoming - Round Five - Feb 10

Tuesday, March 02, 2010

Table

Promotional material

Displaying artwork

Storing artwork

Selling artwork

More art technique articles

Mass produced prints vs original art

So where to start?

There's a final litmus test for any artwork

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Canvas Keys

Bracing a Stretched Canvas

Traditional Stretched Canvas

Gallery Wrapped Canvas

Unstretched Canvas

More art technique articles

More art technique articles

Why Size?

Ancient and Modern Size

Why Prime?

All About Gesso

Traditional gesso

Modern gesso

Oil gesso

Acrylic grounds under oils

Linky Goodness

More art technique articles

How much would you be willing to pay for one of my 30 x 30cm cookbook original oil on canvas artworks?

Rolled and Stretched and Primed

But There's Canvas and There's Canvas

Jute or hessian

Synthetic canvas

Cotton duck

Linen

How Much Does It Weigh and Why You Might Care

More art technique articles

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