Does anyone on here paint?

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emopainterguy

New member
On canvas\'s that is. I just started a painting on a brand new canvas. It was pre-stretched, pre-treated and basically ready to paint on. For some reason my paint is just not sticking to the canvas in some places. Any ideas why? I\'m using acrylics and a retarder to help with blending. Should I just wait for it to dry and do another layer over top? I\'m already more than a year behind on this one so any help would be great.
 
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elouchard

Guest
I notice acrylics doing that sometimes on the pre-trated canvases. I tend to do light washes of burn umber or sienna, or gray and white first and let those dry, the next layers stick well after that. Retarders or blending medium are probably not a good idea for the first layers as you need something solid and dry to build upon.
 
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emopainterguy

New member
Hmmm... I don\'t know if it has happened before lol. I know there was one about the other artsy things you do, but I\'m asking a question about it (so it\'s a little different).

Ah I see... I thought the retarder might be the culprit, good to know. Thanks elouchard.
 
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dougaderly

New member
From the Wifey:

The canvas is primed wrong. The texture should be consistent. If the paint is too thin, it will not stick to the predone ones well. Buy stretched and prime your own canvas.

I married a hot glass blower/painter. I rock.
 
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emopainterguy

New member
Thanks dougaderly (and Mrs. dougaderly). My paints might have been a little thin too...

The second layer went on much nicer, paint went on nice and smooth. :D
 
airhead

airhead

Coffin Dodger / Keymaster
Try a LIGHT sanding to skuff up the surface (320 dry or a Skotch Brite) a bit. Give the canvase some tooth.

or another layer of Gesso to properly prime it.

You have no releases/oils/waxes on it?

Just my random thoughts - nothing to back it up - never painted canvase, but I did a few helmates. Skuff them with a green or red Skotch Brite pad before priming.
 
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angus147258

New member
I use oils. I don\'t know what you\'d do for acrylics but for oils just load up some burnt sienna with turps and alot of cobalt and it should be fine. Drys in just an hour too!

What are you painting? Try paint the under tone in a contrasting color (like for purple - yellow) but try to tie it close to a neutral color like brown (so say your going to paint a lot of purples. I would paint an undertone of indian red as this a very brown-yellow color)

I hope that helps!

angus
 
Shawn R. L.

Shawn R. L.

New member
Done alot of canvas and some of the pre-gessoed canvases can have a satin finish. I like the ones that are very flat - as in flat finish. Different brands and batches of paint make a difference. Golden is a good brand, also Liquetex (I use those for mini\'s also). Dont water down the paint too much. At any decent art store you should be able to buy a can of gesso.

Post some WIP\'s of your work. Would love to see them. I was doing some work on masonite today that I might post soon.
 
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emopainterguy

New member
I did a piece on masonite for an art show at my high school before graduation. Was great to work on.

Here is what im painting:
555170ba.jpg

Didn\'t scan quite right, it\'s not so dark. It\'s a photo my mom really loves, so I thought I\'d paint it for her for mothers day. A year ago lol.

Here\'s my progress so far:
130c6c98.jpg

Of couse my canvas is a bit larger than my scanner so I couldn\'t get it all in. It\'s about 18x14 or 18x12 I can\'t remember right now. Didn\'t scan very nicely... Oh well. I\'ll have a camera by friday I think (maybe) so I\'ll take some pictures then.

I hope to get the clouds done tonight, and then I\'ll just have the dog and the grass left to do tomorow.
 
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angus147258

New member
They\'re really not that hard just take your time with it. Start with a base color (let dry) then splotch on the highlight with a large flat brush.
 
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emopainterguy

New member
I finally got going pretty good on the clouds, had a small area done nicely, and was starting to figure it out pretty quick. Then I looked at the photo. I painted the highlights backwards. I had gone from dark to light, instead of light to dark. No biggy. I\'ll just reverse my technique and do it over. Not bloody likely. So now. The clouds have simple reverted to a solid base coat and I\'m debating on whether I should just paint them backwards or struggle to paint them \"properly\". They looked fine, actually very nice, and I don\'t think that it\'s something that would really throw off the painting. Anyways. Done ranting. Done painting for the night. Hope to get an early start tomorow. Thanks for all the advice so far.
 
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DaN

New member
I just wanna say - I painted my nephews on canvas for my sister/bro-in-laws Christmas present a few years ago when money was tight - and they loved it :)

It\'s a very personal thing, and I\'m sure your mum\'ll love it.

But I agree - Clouds are evil.
 
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angus147258

New member
The beauty of art is that it\'s your own personal vision. It doesn\'t have to be exactly like the picture. If you like the way the louds turned out then keep them that way.
 
airhead

airhead

Coffin Dodger / Keymaster
Originally posted by DaN
...I painted my nephews on canvas...
Click to expand...
Wow. lol
sorry, I suddenly had this image of your nephews sitting on a canvas and having paint thrown at them.

As an old airbrush face painter, when I paint a face, I really mean that I painted on someone\'s face.
 
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