How To Mount A Watercolor Painting Onto Canvas Board

Last month, I wrote about how to have more meaningful intentions in your artwork. It was about writing downwardly your goals and the reason for doing a painting. It'due south something like an artist argument before you fifty-fifty begin the painting! It keeps me focused on the task at paw. This month, I am explaining a new technique for me in exhibiting my latest work. In my workshops I paint generally with acrylic paint on watercolor newspaper, to save me from packing a lot of canvases each time. Consequently, after a few months of pedagogy workshops, I accept many, many acrylic paintings on paper to frame for the galleries, festivals, etc. That would be a lot of framed pieces and a huge framing bill. Plus I needed 15 pieces framed immediately for my electric current gallery show. To relieve time and money, I figured out a way to have a unique gallery presentation and become the job done in two days. I thought of gluing the 21" x 21" paper pieces onto 22" x 22" canvases. The sheet sides and the top 2 inches were painted a colour. The paper was then glued on to the sheet with a 1/2" sail border showing all around. The paper was deckle edged all around and the end result was a totally cool visual presentation. Merely think, xv canvases with watercolor paper glued on them. No frame, no mat and no glass. The entire evidence was shipped in one box and weighed only twenty pounds. The gallery was delighted with the ease in hanging the canvas, no scratched frames or glass breakage AND no bothersome reflections. Okay, those are the advantages... now for the step by step. Quite simple and logical to do.

Bob at Gallery Show
1. I employ 22" x 22" Masterpiece Artist canvases because they are the sturdiest and nearly professional of all the others I've tried.

2. I choose a Holbein Acryla acrylic colour and paint the sides and an inch or ii all around the sheet front. Allow dry out.

3. The finished art is Holbein Acryla acrylic paint on 21" 10 21" watercolor paper, 300 lb. cold press. Note: This is not a watercolor painting.

iv. Using acrylic gel medium as my adhesive, I squeegee it all over the entire canvass surface and ALSO on the dorsum of the watercolor paper.

five. While both surfaces are even so wet, I position and heart the paper on the sheet, making sure the canvas 1/2" borders announced even all around.

6. Using a large moist sponge and working from the center, I squeeze out any air bubbling and excess gel medium, making sure the deckle edges are smoothed down equally tight every bit possible. The exposed deckle border give the presentation a "crafted" look. I would never endeavour to line upwardly a 22" ten 22" paper exactly to the canvas edges... because y'all can never have a perfect alignment with a flexible canvas. So I show the edge. It is what information technology is! I don't effort to conceal or hide the technique.

vii. Under the canvas I stack foam boards between the stretcher bars to block it up and so the canvas won't push down in the eye.

8. Side by side I identify a 24" x 24" plastic sail (like a slip sheet) on top of the mounted painting, then I place a 24" 10 24," 1/2" thick board on top of the plastic. Finally a weight, such as a cinder cake or heavy books, goes on height of the board -- to clasp information technology all down.

9. After 24 hours, I remove the weight, the board, the plastic skid sheet and lift the sail off the underside stack of foam boards. The entire process results in a very strong adhesion of paper to canvass.

10. The final footstep -- I brush on acrylic varnish over the unabridged top surface, including the sides. The hanging wire is screwed into the back of the stretcher confined as normal.

This may sound labor intense but the results are beautiful. It's lightweight, no frames, no mats and no glass, and is very contemporary. You might ask, why not simply pigment on a canvas? Equally I said in the get-go, I have many, many paper pieces ready for exhibition and did not want the expense of framing every one. Hey, it'southward only an idea I've tried and it worked! Endeavour information technology out and run into how you like it!