Surrender - Acrylic on 10" x 13" canvas
Showing posts with label canvas. Show all posts
Showing posts with label canvas. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Saturday, April 10, 2010
Thursday, March 04, 2010
Saturday, August 08, 2009
Canvas Picture Framing Tutorial
This is just a basic run through of fitting/framing a stretched canvas in a ready made frame.
My canvas is an 8 inch by 10 inch stretched canvas and the frame is a ready made, deep set frame with glass and a mat. I start by taking out the frame points with some pliers and taking out the glass and mat, which I'll use in another project.
The canvas sits into the frame then I drive framing points in with this tool that has an official name but I call it a point shooter. I put in two points per side.
Then I apply strips of acid free framing double sided tape to all four sides of the frame, otherwise known as ATG. Don't worry about going over the edges because it rubs off easily.
For the backing, I cut out a piece of brown packing paper a bit larger than I'll need. I begin by pressing down on the paper at the top edge of the back of the frame - I like using the longer side first. Then I pull the paper taught down to the bottom edge in the center first, then working out towards the left and the right. I do the same on the sides, starting in the center, working your way out (much like stapling a canvas onto a frame when stretching a canvas). I use my thumb and index finger to burnish the paper over the edge.
For the next stage, there is a cutting tool for this job available so you don't need to handle a blade directly but since I was trained this way when I was 16, this is the way I still like to do it today. I hold the blade between the meat of my thumb and the tip of my index finger, so the bottom of my thumb can be a constant gauge along the side of the frame creating a straight line all the way down. Again, I wouldn't recommend this technique, it's just how I do it. You can use a straight edge/ruler and a box cutter knife for similar results. In the last picture I show how you often get residue of the ATG once you've peeled away the paper. This rubs off easily and balls together like rubber cement when you rub the edge with your thumb.
Next up, I measure about a third of the way down the frame and make a small hole with an awl on either side. I get the screw eye started by hand then turn it the rest of the way into place using the awl.
Picture framing wire goes through the screw eye, pulled back, looped under and over the wire, then woven through the eye again. The wire then gets twisted around several times to really lock it into place (that wire isn't going anywhere now), cut and finished with a bit of tape just so you don't leave any raw pieces of wire that can poke and cut you or the handler of the piece. Pull taught but not TIGHT and do the same on the other side.
Add some bumpons to the bottom so it won't scuff up the wall and voila - you've got a framed canvas!
(If you're framing an oil painting, cut a hole in the backing paper so the canvas can breathe - this piece it is fine as it is).
I hope you enjoyed this simple tutorial of sorts. I'm looking forward to working on more framing projects now that I have the space. If anyone has any picture framing questions, let me know and I'll try my best to answer them. 10+ years in the business and most of the tricks of the trade are still fresh in my mind.
My canvas is an 8 inch by 10 inch stretched canvas and the frame is a ready made, deep set frame with glass and a mat. I start by taking out the frame points with some pliers and taking out the glass and mat, which I'll use in another project.
The canvas sits into the frame then I drive framing points in with this tool that has an official name but I call it a point shooter. I put in two points per side.
Then I apply strips of acid free framing double sided tape to all four sides of the frame, otherwise known as ATG. Don't worry about going over the edges because it rubs off easily.
For the backing, I cut out a piece of brown packing paper a bit larger than I'll need. I begin by pressing down on the paper at the top edge of the back of the frame - I like using the longer side first. Then I pull the paper taught down to the bottom edge in the center first, then working out towards the left and the right. I do the same on the sides, starting in the center, working your way out (much like stapling a canvas onto a frame when stretching a canvas). I use my thumb and index finger to burnish the paper over the edge.
For the next stage, there is a cutting tool for this job available so you don't need to handle a blade directly but since I was trained this way when I was 16, this is the way I still like to do it today. I hold the blade between the meat of my thumb and the tip of my index finger, so the bottom of my thumb can be a constant gauge along the side of the frame creating a straight line all the way down. Again, I wouldn't recommend this technique, it's just how I do it. You can use a straight edge/ruler and a box cutter knife for similar results. In the last picture I show how you often get residue of the ATG once you've peeled away the paper. This rubs off easily and balls together like rubber cement when you rub the edge with your thumb.
Next up, I measure about a third of the way down the frame and make a small hole with an awl on either side. I get the screw eye started by hand then turn it the rest of the way into place using the awl. 
Picture framing wire goes through the screw eye, pulled back, looped under and over the wire, then woven through the eye again. The wire then gets twisted around several times to really lock it into place (that wire isn't going anywhere now), cut and finished with a bit of tape just so you don't leave any raw pieces of wire that can poke and cut you or the handler of the piece. Pull taught but not TIGHT and do the same on the other side.
Add some bumpons to the bottom so it won't scuff up the wall and voila - you've got a framed canvas!(If you're framing an oil painting, cut a hole in the backing paper so the canvas can breathe - this piece it is fine as it is).
I hope you enjoyed this simple tutorial of sorts. I'm looking forward to working on more framing projects now that I have the space. If anyone has any picture framing questions, let me know and I'll try my best to answer them. 10+ years in the business and most of the tricks of the trade are still fresh in my mind.
Friday, March 13, 2009
Two new paintings
Let It Begin - Acrylic on canvas wrapped wood, 2009
Hyper Analysis - Acrylic on canvas wrapped wood, 2009Yesterday I finished up these very different paintings. The first was controlled and simple - focusing on the most interesting color combinations and arrangement of limited forms. The second is like a buffet of techniques, colors, marks, shapes, layers. It seems I am always balancing these two extremes when I paint - often simultaneously. I go wild on one piece, set it aside and slow way down with another, then put that aside just when I'm ready to get a little crazy again.
Both paintings are now available at http://www.livefunky.etsy.com/
Both paintings are now available at http://www.livefunky.etsy.com/
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Long Way Home
Long Way HomeAcrylic on 36" x 75" canvas, 2009
I've decided to include the Gallery Collection in my Etsy shop. That is where most of my buyers find me, so it just makes good sense. See the new section at www.livefunky.etsy.com.
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
WIP
Here's the latest work in progress shot of the biggie in the basement. In the last post you saw how I worked out the composition. Now it's getting to the color stage. First, I just fill in the spaces with whatever colors I've got around, it doesn't really matter (though I do end up having some kind of unintended harmony regardless). The second layer of color is when I start testing out the colors in my mind on the surface - like how would a lime green look here? - as well as getting more fine tuned in application. The first coat soaks into the canvas, the second creates that "plastic-y" acrylic film that I really love and the third (and forth, fifth, whatever) is sure to have the level of density that I'm looking for. As it stands now, I'm 95% finished with the second coat. Now I have to go down and start really thinking and tweaking things. Standing back and looking for a long time at the whole and it's parts and back to the whole again...
So don't get too attached to these colors as they will surely change with the final layers. Up towards the top, there is a strong horizontal line that cuts down in an angle to the right. I'm wondering if that's too solid, too heavily directing the eye down and off the side of the canvas instead of bouncing it around the whole surface. It feels too tilted. Maybe I can break up that line in some places and find a way to redirect the eye back into the whole...
Time to get back to work.
Monday, February 09, 2009
WORK WITH WHAT YOU'VE GOT
This has been my mantra lately and it's like an obvious light has been turned on. When things get tight, don't get desperate, work with what you've got. I tend to save things for the perfect time or occassion. Use it, utilize it, "Make it work!" as the great Tim Gunn would say. When times got tough before I'd get desperate. I don't need to explain how, but I did as an artist. NO MORE. It's proven that acts of desperation don't work, they are money and time (and inspiration too, ultimately) down the drain. So in these economic times, am I painting little cheap give away paintings?
NOPE - I'm painting huge monster paintings!
Something most of us artists discuss amongst ourselves is the balance between being the artist we want to be and the creative fears, personal doubts and concerns that limit us. We all seem to agree that when you make something that you think/hope others will like, they will see right through it, or as a good friend said, see it as "pandering" to your audience. Guilty as charged, but right now I'm not going to do it.
Right now I'm going for the full dream. I'm going for the monster jam.
What did I want/have on the to do list that I couldn't provide for this or that reason?
-My shed/studio to be heated
-Lots of new ready to hang canvases
What did I have? (work with what you've got)
-A relatively empty basement that's warm enough
-A bulk of unprimed canvas and a bucket of gesso
THIS PROVES SOMETHING I AM SEMI-WILLING TO ADMIT>>>>>
I am much more linear thinking that I thought I was.
How could an artist NOT be thinking, "Hey I've got this that and the other to work with, let's do this!" when you've got a bunch of canvas laying around? Apparently I really have been too focused on the business end of things and less as an artist true to her craft FIRST.
Being true to myself as a painter is what got me into this world of selling my art to people I don't know around the world. Putting it all out there, taking chances. The meat and pulp of the artist on display for all to see. This is what it is all about. Work with what you've got.
For this work in progress, let me first say this is prepared to be 36" x 75" long - it will be shipped unstretched so that the buyer's framer can stretch it for much cheaper than it would be for me to ship it stretched.
Canvas had been primed. (Since I'll be shipping these biggies unstretched, I'm thinking my next big purchase at the art supply store will be a roll of pre-primed canvas.) First gestures of paint. Not feeling it. Go for some sticks of loose charcoal to sketch out a composition.
The charcoal composition evolves...
Navy blue/black paint over sketched composition...
The first layers of paint.
There will be many more layers of paint over this. This is just a shadow or actually skeleton of what this painting will end up looking like, but it's fun to share the process with you.
NOPE - I'm painting huge monster paintings!
Something most of us artists discuss amongst ourselves is the balance between being the artist we want to be and the creative fears, personal doubts and concerns that limit us. We all seem to agree that when you make something that you think/hope others will like, they will see right through it, or as a good friend said, see it as "pandering" to your audience. Guilty as charged, but right now I'm not going to do it.
Right now I'm going for the full dream. I'm going for the monster jam.
What did I want/have on the to do list that I couldn't provide for this or that reason?
-My shed/studio to be heated
-Lots of new ready to hang canvases
What did I have? (work with what you've got)
-A relatively empty basement that's warm enough
-A bulk of unprimed canvas and a bucket of gesso
THIS PROVES SOMETHING I AM SEMI-WILLING TO ADMIT>>>>>
I am much more linear thinking that I thought I was.
How could an artist NOT be thinking, "Hey I've got this that and the other to work with, let's do this!" when you've got a bunch of canvas laying around? Apparently I really have been too focused on the business end of things and less as an artist true to her craft FIRST.
Being true to myself as a painter is what got me into this world of selling my art to people I don't know around the world. Putting it all out there, taking chances. The meat and pulp of the artist on display for all to see. This is what it is all about. Work with what you've got.
For this work in progress, let me first say this is prepared to be 36" x 75" long - it will be shipped unstretched so that the buyer's framer can stretch it for much cheaper than it would be for me to ship it stretched.
Canvas had been primed. (Since I'll be shipping these biggies unstretched, I'm thinking my next big purchase at the art supply store will be a roll of pre-primed canvas.) First gestures of paint. Not feeling it. Go for some sticks of loose charcoal to sketch out a composition.
The charcoal composition evolves...
Navy blue/black paint over sketched composition...
The first layers of paint.There will be many more layers of paint over this. This is just a shadow or actually skeleton of what this painting will end up looking like, but it's fun to share the process with you.
Monday, January 26, 2009
Allowed to Dream
Acrylic and oil pastel on canvas panel, 8 x 10 - Available at http://www.livefunky.etsy.com/This is the first completed piece in a batch of new paintings I'm working on.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)