Let’s talk about my canvases!
Hello my friends,
One of the most interesting questions I get most often from the artists in my audiences on Instagram and TikTok has been about my canvases.
They want to know where I get such large canvases and why I don’t make them myself.
So today I’m going to talk about my canvas experience, and hopefully it will help you in your goals to sell your art!
While getting rolled canvas instead of pre-stretched is less expensive, there are a number of other things you need to consider when stretching canvases at the sizes I’m using.
I almost always use 2 1/4 inch deep stretcher bars and they are all well bracketed.
It is important when you go this big that the canvas stays steady and the wood isn't at risk of warping. You need thick, good-quality wood.
I knew that going into a store and buying something off the rack would get expensive. But when I realized I would be using many canvases, I developed a relationship with a local store, i.d. Art Supply & Custom Framing.
I have an LLC and with my tax ID I was able to buy from this supplier wholesale.
This significantly reduced the cost of my canvases.
My supplier delivers canvases directly to me whatever I need now, which is amazing and saves me a lot of money.
There are mom and pop art supply businesses all over the country. So I would recommend looking for a local store and ask to talk to the owner.
Get to know the owner and ask if they do discounts for business or are willing to work with you if you order in bulk.
Now I know what you’re thinking, “it’s great that you found a way to cut costs on canvases, but how do you ship pre-stretched canvases across the country and around the world?”
Well, before I was represented by my gallery, Pan American Art Projects, the owner of the art supply store was helping me ship my paintings.
I did this for two reasons.
He was also a framer so I promoted his framing and then he would ship the framed piece (which yes was very expensive.)
f we couldn’t find a cost effective way to ship the painting, the art supply owner would remove the piece from its bars, roll it up, and ship it in a tube. The method I planned on doing before I developed a relationship with i.d. Art Supply.
I experimented with painting un-stretched pieces that needed to be shipped in a tube for a very long time. But it is risky.
With my particular art, if I cannot get the canvas completely flat then I will get some waves in the piece which I did not like and would show when stretched.
I created a stretcher bar with clamps to solve this problem. But that was a mess, too.
I realized that all brands of canvas are not equal — and if I wasn't going to stretch it — the best thing to do is to double gesso myself, and while that gave me a better chance at success, it was not foolproof.
So honestly stretching and removing from bar to ship was the safest option for me.
It may be different for you, especially if you’re selling prints, or paintings at a smaller size!
