Choosing the Right Canvas for Your Painting - Jackson's Art Blog

By A Mystery Man Writer

Last updated 08 May 2024

Choosing the Right Canvas for Your Painting - Jackson's Art Blog

Oil and acrylic paintings these days are most often created on canvas. Canvas replaced wood panels for painting during the Renaissance because stretching canvas across wooden bars allowed for larger paintings that were portable, because they were lighter and could be rolled, as well as being a more stable surface with less warping and cracking than a wooden panel. The first artist canvases were made from high-quality Venetian hemp sailcloth and the word canvas derives from cannabis (hemp) – canvas made from linen was introduced soon after and cotton is a more recent choice of fibre. Whether you are stretching your own canvas or buying ready-prepared stretched canvases or canvas boards, there are many types of canvas fabrics to choose from. The characteristics you require of your surface will determine which you choose. The weight of the fabric, the material it is made from and the surface preparation, in different combinations will each give a different painting experience and will affect the final appearance of your painting. At Jackson’s we stock a good variety of canvas that should cover most artists’ needs. You can get a huge range of sizes and surface characteristics in ready-to-paint stretched canvases, just unwrap them