Preparing Canvas for Painting and Printing
Before a piece of canvas is made ready for painting or printing, it is prepared first. In the past, Renaissance artists used to layer the canvas with lead-white paint, polish the surface, then repeat the process to remove the substrate’s texture. This process takes months to complete but when finished, the substrate has a glossy, enamel-like finish that is crucial to attain photorealism.
Today, canvas is primed by first stretching it across a wooden frame. It is then coated with gesso, a powdered form of calcium carbonate mixed with linseed oil and applied over rabbit-skin glue. Aside from acting as a primer, gesso also prevents oil from coming directly in contact with the fibres that make up the canvas. If the fibres are soaked, the canvas will decay in time. An alternative and more flexible primer is a synthetic latex paint that is composed of calcium carbonate and titanium dioxide which are bound together by a thermo-plastic emulsion. After the primer dries, the canvas is ready to use. One can tell if the canvas is properly prepared by layers of oil paint on it. Each layer of colour glides in a “butterfly” manner without the presence of brushstrokes.