Art Support

Art support is any surface that can be painted on. There are a wide variety of surface to choose from paper, panels, boards, wood, canvas, glass, ceramic, plastic and what not!

Of all the medium available my favorites are oil and water-mixable oil. The requirement in oil painting is that the surface does not have a higher fat content than the paint itself. Canvas panel, boards, masonite, seasoned wood, properly primed paper can also be used, however, the canvas is the most commonly used surface due to its lightness, stability, and elasticity.

The quality of canvas depends on the fiber content, weaves, weight, and density. The fiber can be natural,(such as linen, cotton, hemp, jute, sackcloth) synthetic ( such as nylon, and polyester) or a combination of both. Linen is the best among them for its high quality, stability and great resistance to climatic variation. Cotton is the second best and highly elastic.

The weave makes the variation in the texture of the canvas. The fine weave is an ideal surface for portrait painting or for subjects that require a delicate finish. Medium weave provides a good surface for landscapes, still life, or abstract paintings. Coarse weave canvas offers great dimensional stability and the surface itself adds an interesting element to a painting.

Depending on the weight and thickness of the canvas, artists choose them for a different use. Lightweight is the ideal choice for fine detailed painting. Medium weight is the most common as it suits almost all kind of work. Heavyweight is extremely strong and durable, thus used for firm brushwork and palette knife painting.

Priming

All surface need to be protected from direct contact with paint to prevent the oil from spoiling them, hence a solid neutral layer of substances like oil gesso, acrylic gesso or a compound containing rabbit skin glue is applied to a painting surface in order to prevent it from absorbing the paint. Unprimed surface will absorb oil from the paint, thus reduces the brightness of the colors and the consistency of the paint.

Each primer has different property and produces a different finish. A major difference can be drawn between oil primed and acrylic primed. While oil primed is specially made for oil painting, acrylic primed can be used for both oil and acrylic painting. Remember the rule, “Fat over lean”. Oil primed canvas is expensive than acrylic primed one.

Hope that the information provided here will be helpful to choose the right canvas for the kind of work you intend to paint.

This article aims at providing knowledge about various wet painting media

Watercolor

Watercolor is the pure pigment suspended in a water-based solution that can be diluted with water for application. It is transparent and highly luminescent. Quickly dries by evaporation to give matte-finish. Available in tubes and pans. Watercolor is transparent so it is worked from light value to dark value. 

Gouache or Body color

Gouache is highly pigmented watercolor to which an opaque filler is added to give body. It can be diluted with water.  It has a great covering capacity and can be worked from light to dark and dark to light value. It can also form superficial layers like acrylic or oil paint. Quickly dries by evaporation that dark color dries light and light color dries dark to give Matt finish. Both watercolor and gouache can be used together.

Egg Tempera

An ancient translucent medium made from pigments blended with egg yolk and diluted with water. It’s a fast-drying paint medium and is clear and glowing that dry to a semi-Matt finish.

Acrylic

Acrylic is a fast-drying paint medium based on acrylic resin. Can be diluted with water for application but becomes water-resistant when dry. Various acrylic gels, mediums, and pastes are available to modify its consistency, drying time and depending on which the finished look varies widely.

Oil

Oil paint is a slow drying paint medium that is made from pigment grounded in a drying oil. Usually linseed but for whites sometimes sunflower oil as they are less yellowing. Oil paint does not evaporate but oxidizes and allows the artist to superimpose layers of opaque and transparent paints. Can be diluted by adding turpentine.  A wide range of additional oil, gel, painting butter and paste are available to alter the consistency and drying time.

Water Mixable Oil

Water Mixable oil is the recently engineered medium. Here the linseed oil and safflower oil vehicles have been modified to allow the color to mix with water, creating a stable emulsion, while retaining the working characteristics of traditional oil color. The paint can be diluted with water and ‘modified’ oil. While diluting with water makes it opaque but the ‘modified’ oil will retain its transparency. 

Considering painting with mixed media the rule of thumb is “Fat over Lean”. Paint that has more oil content is considered fat. Given that, its good idea to paint with oil over acrylic. The reverse can result in defected paintings.