Wales
Valerie Wiffen
Colin Willey
Anna Wood
Leslie Worth
Brian Yale
John Yardley
Rosemary Young
Galleries
Art Space Gallery, London
Chris Beetles Gallery, London
Browse and Darby, London
The Fine Art Society, London
Fischer Fine Art, London
Kentmere House Gallery, York
Lizardi / Harp Gallery, Pasadena, California
Llewellyn Alexander
Gallery, London
Montpelier Studio, London
Museum of Modern Art, New York
National Gallery, London
New Academy Gallery, London
New Grafton Gallery, London
On Line Gallery, Southampton
Piccadilly Gallery, London
Redfern Gallery, London
Brian Sinfield Gallery, Burford
Tate Gallery, London
Westcott Gallery, Dorking
Companies
Acco-Rexel
Arnesby Arts
The Artist magazine
Berol
Bird & Davis
Ken Bromley’s Perfect
Paper Stretcher
R.K. Burt & Co.
Canson
ChromaColour
ColArt
L. Cornelisson & Son
Daler-Rowney Ltd
Falkiner Fine Papers
Frisk Products
Inscribe
Intertrade International
Jakar International
Khadi
Koh-i-Noor
Letraset UK
A. Levermore & Co.
Liquitex UK
David Lloyd Picture
Framers
Martin/F. Weber Co.
Osborne & Butler
Pentel
Philip & Tracey
Pro Arte
Project Art
C. Robertson & Co.
Raphael & Berge
Rotring UK
Royal Sovereign
St Cuthbert’s Paper Mills
Tate Gallery Publications
Tollit & Harvey
Unison
Winsor & Newton
Photographers and picture sources
Studio photography by Paul Chave and Ben Jennings
Other photography by: Acco-Rexel Ltd; John Couzins; Daler-Rowney Ltd; Ikea Ltd; Simon Jennings; Raphael & Berge SA; and Shona Wood
Before starting a painting or drawing, it is worth spending some time choosing and preparing the surface, or support, as this will have a great bearing on which medium you use, and the effects that you are able to achieve with it. Although the range of canvases, panels and papers may seem somewhat bewildering at first glance, finding the right support for your purpose is not very difficult when you understand the properties of each one. A properly prepared support will greatly increase the longevity of a work and, in addition, you can derive a lot of pleasure and satisfaction from this aspect of the artist’s work.
| CANVAS | In painting, canvas is still the most widely used of all supports. Stretched-and-primed canvas is taut but flexible, and has a unique receptiveness to the stroke of the brush. The two most common fibres for making canvas are linen and cotton, although hessian and synthetic fibres are also used. Each of these fibres differs in terms of durability, evenness of grain, ease of stretching and cost. |
Linen is considered the best canvas because it has a fine, even grain that is free of knots and is a pleasure to paint on. Although expensive, it is very durable and, once stretched on a frame, retains its tautness. Good-quality linen has a tight weave of even threads which will persist through several layers of primer and paint; avoid cheap linen, which is loosely woven.
Preparing linen canvas
The weaving process makes raw linen canvas prone to shrinking and warping when it is stretched, and it has a tendency to resist the application of size. However, both these problems can be solved by temporarily stretching the canvas, wetting it and allowing it to dry. Then remove the canvas from the stretcher bars and re-stretch it; this second stretching creates a more even tension across the cloth.
Cotton canvas
A good-quality 410–510gsm (12–15oz) cotton duck is the best alternative to linen, and is much cheaper. Cotton weaves of below 410gsm (12oz) are fine for experimenting with, but they stretch much more than linen and, once stretched, they are susceptible to fluctuations in tension in either humid or dry conditions. The weave of cheap cotton quickly becomes obscured by layers of primer and paint, leaving the surface
