What media can I use on canvas?

Question

I am doing GCSE Art and am working with canvas for my final piece. I know you can use acrylic and oil, but what other medias could I try?

Would watercolour and ink be too thin to give a good colour? I've never worked on a canvas before; do they soak up liquid?

Answer 1

You can use oil and acrylic on canvas, yes, but if you are using oil then you need to put a primer on the canvas to protect it, if you haven't already done so. Usually the size (the stuff used to tighten the canvas over the stretcher) is enough, but to be safe, you can always mix some PVA glue with acrylic paint and put a layer of that on.

One thing you can do with stretched canvas also is use embroidery, I have seen that done and it can be very effective. You could also attach pieces of patterned cloth, in the sense of collage, which can work very well with acrylic paint. You can also mix sand, polyfilla, styrofoam pellets, etc., in with either acrylic or oil for interesting effects. But don't forget to take the drying time into consideration.

If you are working with canvas on board, then you can really go to town - try encaustic, which is coloured wax and can look really great; wood shavings and sand through oil paint. It's easier to use oil pastels and oil bars on canvas board, but you can also use them on stretched canvas, thin them with turpentine as needed.

If you are thinking of burning with the canvas, then be very very careful. Take your canvase outside into the open air, and away from anything combustible. Use your blowtorch carefully. You can also use turpentine for successful burning, it's better than white spirits as it burns cleaner, put your (painted) canvas down flat on the ground, drip the turps where you want to burn, and put a match to it. If you want to move it around, tilt the canvas VERY CAREFULLY, and always AWAY FROM YOU to prevent getting burning turps on yourself. I have seen this done, and the results can look very well indeed.

Answer 2

Greetings,
Water colour might be a bit hard to keep on the canvas, but it would work for a wash. You could also try add it to glue and flour to create a thicker substance that would stay on the canvas

Other ideas to try:

Condaments
Fabric
Make-up
Ink
Mud
Paper
Beads
Fecal matter
Sparkles
Hair
Clothing
Plants
glue [ if you put a water based pain on the canvas first the glue will make the colour run or move]
Metal
Rust
Nail polish
Mirrors/ glass
Wire [electrical or other]
House paint
Permanent marker and rubbing alcohol [it makes the ink turn into a colour spectrum]
Newspaper
Varnish
Quash
Fabric dye
Poster paints
Wood stain
Sewing [stitches or embroidery]
Could even cut a hole in the center and use the wall behind it as part of the effect. As you can see from the list that is growing...just pick any random thing from your work area.

As a future art teacher, I wish you good luck!

Answer 3

If you are using a prepared canvas, that is with a coat or several coats of GESSO, most paints will work. Jackson Pollack used house paint, although some of his work is peeling away from the surface. If you stick to an underpainting of acrylic and then finish with oils, finish with a coat of varnish or some other good agent to seal the surface you should be good to go. After you get the feel and want to experiment with other ways to work, you can go to any lengths to express yourself. To begin with, though, I would say to use a method that is tried and true. Good luck and have fun! I have had some success with enamels on gesso. I find the real difference is the how the surface accepts the media, and rolling out the gesso with a small paint roller will give a surface that is more even. I don't use water color on canvas, but it may give you an additional way to paint. Try several different things together. Charcoal can also be used to draw in the paint while it is still wet. Richardthelion

Answer 4

If you paint on the canvas directly the paint will soak through the fabric. If you don't want this to happen you brush a few thin layers of something known as "size". (If you are a vegetarian you need to buy vegetarian size because size is made out of crushed rabbits bones.) Size is like a glue and as it dries it contracts the canvas and fills the tiny holes of the fabric allowing the surface to become taut. The tautness helps the canvas to have a firm surface to paint on and enables the painter to press firmly onto the surface without causing dents. Let each layer of the size dry and then after the last one has dried you add what's called a "primer". Brush on each layer of primer thinly and let it dry each time. Primer is usually white. You can use either an acrylic primer or oil primer if you are going to use oil paint. If you want what's called a "coloured ground" on which to paint your picture you can add a colour pigment at this priming stage or you can do a layer of your chosen pigment on top of the primer. The use of a mid colour for the ground can be used instead of white. It can be somewhere between white and black or between the lightest and the darkest of any colour you may choose from which to start your picture, the light colours of the picture are worked up to and the dark colours of the picture are worked down from this mid colour. I recommend that you get an introductory book on it or go to an evening class to get the basics. It's great fun to do and there is a life time of learning ahead of you. Learning the basics of painting is a great spring board for, as Julia Cameron says in her "Artist's Way" book, "discovering or recovering your creative process".

Answer 5

Pretty much anything. You should test different things on one big canvas before you start anything for your GCSE project. My friend is also doing GCSE Art and she found that doing that gave her the opportunity to find out what works and what doesn't (or more importantly, what looks good and makes her piece of art stand out).

Answer 6

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Answer 7

Lol...I've managed to affix everything that has come across my path on a canvas...it's art, it holds no boundries!! Have fun ; p

Answer 8

Honesgtly there are loads just visit your local art shop and enquire for yourself.

Answer 9

Use anything you like - especially your imagination

Answer 10

glitters, buttons, blood, pee, wine stain