Stretching the canvas

For stretching the canvas you need a smooth linen or leather. Leather is more expensive than linen but it doesn't need to be prepared with gesso. Leather is also more resistible to weather conditions, damage, and fire. Linen is more flexible but leather is smoother. Linen is more popular among artists and it's much affordable than leather.

In the picture you can see the tools we need to stretch a canvas: the canvas frame, enough linen for all the frames you have, a manual nail gun, and safety gloves.

if you are a female artist, it's better to ask for a male's help because stretching the canvas needs physical strength and it might hurt your hands. you start by putting the frame above the linen and cutting the linen around the frame leaving 2 cm from each side enough to be fold around the wooden bars. After that you fix the linen on the back side of one of the short bars as following:

 after you finish this side you move to the opposite bar and stretch the linen as much as you can and fix the cloth from the middle of the wooden bar.

you continue stretching and fixing the linen on this side and then you move to one of the long bars and stretch moderately making sure that you keep some cloth for the obverse bare.

next you fold the extra linen on the corners neatly and fix it then move to the last side stretching the linen hard and fixing it from the middle then doing the rest without forgetting the corners. The result is a stretched canvas that has a surface similar to the one of a drum.

you repeat the same process to all the canvas frames that you have and wait to next Saturday to see how you're going to gesso these frames.

All the best
Ola :)

The Canvas: Size

The first step in painting using oils is knowing the sizes of the canvas you're going to paint on, structuring it, stretching it, and preparing it with gesso. Canvas shapes vary a lot. They can come in rectangular, round, triangular, square and actually any shape. A canvas could take the shape of the subject being painted such as a fish or a cat. However, rectangular canvas is the most popular because it fits the walls and furniture of rooms and it also can be used with landscape, portraits and abstract paintings.

Thus, all that you have to do is buying a ready-made canvas or follow me to know how to make your own canvas with these steps:

1. determining the size

2. stretching the canvas

3. preparing it with gesso

Today we'll talk about canvas size and frame. The size of canvas could be the sixe of a notebook , a wall or the facade of a whole building. The bigger the canvas, the more you can control the details in the painting and vice versa. when the canvas is small, it requires more talent, patience and preciseness. To make it easier for you, I'll show you the most popular canvas sizes that art collectors prefer.

 The table shows that sizes 27x35  & 40x50 are the most popular for small canvas whereas sizes  91x121 & 76x 101 are the most popular regarding a large canvas.  However, the criteria for choosing the size of the canvas is the subject of the painting and the size of the wall you want to hang it on. For your first paintings i recommend medium size canvas because they are suitable for different paining topics, you finish paining in relatively a short time, they don't need costly large size brushes and you can use any wall as an easel for them without suffering to reach all of the canvas parts. 

After deciding on the canvas size you need to ask the carpenter to make you a couple of canvas frame the sizes you want. You have to be aware of the following:

1. the wooden bars should be thick enough to endure stretching and thin enough to avoid marking the paining area.

2. the wooden frame should have corners to hold the sidebars together while stretching the canvas.

3. the corners should be similar to corners no4 for small canvas and corners no. 1 or no.3 for large canvas.   

corners no. 1 are really good for medium and not very large canvas

corners no.2 are usually used with small canvas but they usually leave marks in the clothe of the painting side.

corners no.3 are the perfect solution for really large canvas.

corners no.4 are the better substitution to corners no.2 and are suitable to small and medium canvas. 

Next Saturday we're gonna talk about stretching the canvas.

All the best

Ola :)

I want to start painting with oils. What should I do?

I want to start painting with oils but what should i do first? Should start by buying an easel or some colors? What is the perfect size of the canvas? What do i need to clean the brushes? 

I've asked myself this question 5 years ago when my mom thought i should paint on something that is more resistant to weather and damage than paper. Oil painting is also more popular in national art galleries and most people prefer their portraits to be painted on canvas. 

I wanted to make steady steps and i didn't want to lose my money on things i wouldn't need. So i searched the internet for answers just like you. And here you are finding this blog where you can find someone who will go with you step by step till you create your mini studio. 

Here you'll be presented with detailed information and photos about the things that you need to build your art studio where you can start creating your magic. You'll find information about the perfect place and lighting in your home, the liquids you need, how to make a canvas, how to prepare your canvas, what colors should you buy first and many other interesting and funny stories.

I'll be posting every Friday in Arabic and every Saturday in English. I wish you enjoy reading. If you want to show your support you can share the article, comment below with your Facebook account or tag your interested friends. 

All the best 

Ola :)