Packing Stretched Canvases for Sending

I thought it would be helpful to consider how to pack artwork that is painted onto a stretched canvas.

Holiday times are a good opportunity to look at this as chocolate boxes, especially the large flat ones are very handy packing materials. So if you receive any boxes of chocolates (particularly the ones with just one or two layers of chocolates as they tend to be a good size) you may want to save it for future packing material.

Materials

The way I package stretched canvases uses an appropriate size of box, lots of bubble wrap, a couple of sheets of cardboard with some extra cardboard to reinforce the edges and corners. Also some paper to wrap the box and parcel tape to keep it all secure.

My Method

I start by putting a couple of layers of bubble wrap in the gap at the rear of the stretched canvas. This will fill up the void at the back of the canvas. Then wrap the canvas in bubble wrap. It helps to both protect the painting and keeps any dampness away from the artwork too.

Next put a sheet of cardboard to the front and back of the stretched canvas. Cut these an inch or two larger than the size of the painting including the bubble wrap.

Roll up some lengths of bubble wrap strips to pack the edges around the canvas. Place in the gap between the 2 cardboard layers. Pack the bubble wrap strips out to approximately the edge of the cardboard layers. This will help to protect the edges.

Cut spacers of cardboard

Cut some lengths of cardboard wide enough for the gap between the two layers of cardboard (on the front and back of the canvas). Put these between the two layers. Be sure that the corners are well protected and put the lengths of cardboard the whole way around the artwork. Use the parcel tape or any wide tape to hold this in place.

If there is room add another layer of bubble wrap around all of this packaging, and then place it into the box.

If the box is not deep enough (the bubble wrap will make it quite a bit larger all around) you can add some more lengths of cardboard as a spacer between the top and bottom of the box.

Pack any spaces with more bubble wrap and tape the top and bottom of the box together. (The corners are the area most likely to get damaged. Be sure to check that they are well packed.)

To finish, wrap with paper and tape to secure.

I probably over-pack stretched canvases, but I‘d rather use too much packaging and have the artwork arrive in good condition.

Damaged stretched canvas?

If you are unlucky and the painting is damaged you may be able to repair it.

If the canvas and painting are intact it is possible to get some new stretchers and (having removed the canvas from the original damaged stretchers) re-stretch the canvas over them. However if the canvas or paint is damaged you will probably need to decide if it is worth the trouble of trying to get it repaired.

Should the paint be damaged you may find that you can repaint it successfully. However if the canvas is torn I wouldn’t bother trying to repair it. Perhaps you could cut it down to a good section and re-stretch it as a smaller picture.


Sending a few canvases?

If you have a few canvases to send and they are all about the same size you can buy boxes from sellers on eBay. There are some sellers on eBay that will sell boxes suitable for sending pictures. If you have a few to send this could be a good option for you.

But if you only have one picture to send it is probably easier to use the method described above.

How You can Paint Your Own Colour Matched Artwork (Part 2)

This is the second part of painting artwork which includes the colours used in your home furnishings.

This topic is covered in the free report that I give away (the link is above). However I always think that it's clearer to see some actual examples.

As in the previous post the colours used in this painting match the bed cover in our bedroom. This post looks at another style of painting using the same colours as before.





Recap on the Colours in the Furnishings

As you can see from the photo the bed cover is a checked design with stone and dark red in the pattern. Trying to buy artwork with these particular colours in it would be very awkward to find.

I used a couple of small pots of pre-mixed colour. As I was going to paint a couple of pictures it was easier to use pre-mixed colours.

The Style of this Picture

As before this picture was painted onto a stretched canvas. The style of this picture is a fairly traditional landscape style.

And as previously the sky was painted using the stone colour with some white for a cloud effect.

The furthest away hills were a mix of the stone and red colours and painted with quite a lot of water for a pale tone.

TOP TIP - If the tone isn't pale enough you can always add some white to the mix, or paint over the dried section with watery white to make it lighter.

The layers of hills coming towards the foreground used more of the red, as well as darker tones to give a feeling of depth.


In the Foreground

The foreground was straight red and some areas were painted with thicker paint (you can use several coats) to give extra detail to this area.

The area in the centre had some of the white and a little of the stone colour added to give the indication of water.

I added a little blue to the red in a few of the foreground areas to give some darker tones which give a nice contrast to the rest of the picture.

Limited Palette

This picture is an example of painting with a limited number of colours or a limited palette. I really like these types of pictures and find the final effect is very pleasing and harmonious.


Surprise Element

However that's not the full story of this picture. There is a surprise element to this painting that I’ll tell you about in next month’s posting.

Painting on an Oval Stretched Canvas - Painting Tip

I've had an e-mail about painting on oval stretched canvases so I thought it would be a good subject for this blog post.

Painting on an Oval Stretched Canvas

Oval stretches canvases used to be quite rare but I see that they're a lot more common now.

They give a different look to your painting and many people prefer it.

I got one as a Christmas present last year. I painted a collie picture on it and I think it looks pretty good. :-) It would look pleasing in a traditional style of décor.


What about Framing?

However there may be a drawback if you want to have a framed picture. I spoke to my local picture framer and she said that framing oval pictures was a specialist job. Obviously the frame needs to be the same curved shape as the canvas.

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Side Note – An oval canvas could be framed into a rectangular picture. The oval shape would be put behind a mount or matt, so the final mounted picture would be a rectangle, and easy to frame.

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When framing a square or rectangular canvas the framing is sold in straight lengths. The lengths are cut to the correct size for the canvas. The corners are cut at 45 degrees for a tidy finish and the frame assembled.

For an oval canvas to be framed as an oval shape the framing has to match the curve of the canvas which is much more complicated.

This can make getting your oval artwork fairly expensive to frame. A few years ago I saw an oval canvas with a matching frame sold as a kit, but I haven't seen any of these recently.


Any Options?

If you decide to buy an oval canvas look for one with the canvas fixed on the back the picture. This means that the artwork can be displayed without the need for a frame.

I like to paint the background colour around and onto the sides to tidy them up. The photo shows how this looks on the collie painting.

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Painting Tip for Artists – Dented Canvases

In this post I wanted to share a tip that I had to use recently. If you store your equipment better than I do you may not need this tip!

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How to Repair a Badly Stored Stretched Canvas

I have a range of different sizes of stretched canvases. This is very handy as I can choose the size I want for a particular painting. Usually I store them so that all the same sizes are together and resting on an edge (normally leaning up against a wall). This way they support each other and everything is fine.

However as I was looking for a particular size I discovered that I had mixed a small stretched canvas in between two large ones. It must have been there for a while as the small one had put dents into the larger canvases. What a nuisance!


How to Fix Dents in a Stretched Canvas

I find that if you get a bulge or dent in the canvas surface you can remove it by thoroughly spraying the entire back of the stretched canvas with clean water.

The canvas will usually dry smooth. However you need to let it dry naturally for the best result.


Another Use for this Spraying on the Back Technique

Another use for this technique is to slow the drying time of a painting.

If you want to slow down the drying time of your paint you can spray the back of a stretched canvas with a water spray before you start the painting. This will slow down the drying time without affecting the paints on the front of the canvas.

I like to spray the rear of the canvas before setting out the rest of the painting equipment so it gets time to soak into the canvas a bit.

Obviously the amount of extra time you will get depends on some other factors too. For example how much water you sprayed on the back of the canvas, how wet the paints are that you are using, room temperature and humidity, and so on.

However it is a handy thing to know. Be sure to try it sometime to see how it works for you.