Guest Post How-to: Prepare and Paint on Canvas

Painting on canvas is not as simple as purchasing the first canvas you find and painting whatever you like on it. You must prepare your canvas before you paint. Before you paint, you must choose the appropriate product for painting based on the sort of paintings you want to produce.

Following some simple steps will help you to prepare the canvas properly and allow you to purchase the paints that will work best for you.

1. You must purchase a canvas that is the size you need. Only you can determine the perfectly-sized canvas for your current project. However, you have to take greater measures after purchasing the right canvas.

2. Any canvas that you purchase will likely have a coat or two of gesso already applied. Gesso allows for a good painting surface for just about any project. You will need to get a good acrylic gesso that you will apply to the canvas with a cake icing knife or similar spate. It will take a few coats to get a perfectly smooth surface to paint on.

3. When you are ready to paint, you should begin by drawing light sketches onto the canvas. You are not, by any means, painting by numbers but you are certainly giving yourself a template to work with.

4. Choose the paint that is going to work best for the painting you want to do. You have to decide whether you’re painting still-life like people and buildings or nature scenes like tress and waterfalls.

5. Still-life paintings that involve people and structures are best painted with acrylic paints. The paints go on pretty strong and they allow for strongly-defined lines for the buildings, furniture, and bodies in each picture.

6. Watercolors and oils work better for paintings that involve nature scenes involving water or trees and bushes.

7. The final step in painting on any canvas is patience. You have spent the time to gesso the canvas and assure that there is a smooth surface. You worked to draw on the picture as best you could so that you would have a template to paint over. Then, you must put as much time into actually painting the canvas as you can. Do not attempt to paint the entire picture all at once. The finest artists in the world spend as much as they need to produce quality work.

Take your time and allow the painting to grow organically. You may change your mind as you paint, and you don’t want all that you’ve invested in the canvas and paints to go to waste. With a little bit of patience, you can produce paintings that art galleries will want to show and people will want to buy.

Author Bio:
Rachel is an arts and crafts lover, creating many of her own pieces for sale at her local market each Sunday morning. One of her secrets for canvas painting is to use exterior paint that is used on houses as it provides a weather-proof and strong solution for large pieces that may come in contact with naughty children or crazy pets!