Worked on Landscape 6. Tomorrow I’ll work on the tree and bush trunks. Right now they are just a flat brown right out of the tube. There’s still work to be done on the foliage but not much.
I’ve been looking for the perfect surface to paint on, preferably a fine textured canvas or linen. Canvas is cotton. Linen is flax. A fine linen is great but very expensive. An 18″ x 42″ fine weave, oil-primed, sample piece of linen is $50. A 72″ x 18′ roll of the same linen is $660. I took a chance and ordered a 72″ x 30′ roll of triple acrylic primed fine canvas for $138. I received it last night and it’s great! $138 for 180 square feet of a fine textured canvas.
The problem with acrylic priming is it will absorb some oil out of the oil paint. Also, it’s better to paint on a surface that isn’t a bright white. I have a tub of non-absorbent, light tan acrylic primer I will paint the canvas with before starting a painting. So tomorrow I will glue two pieces of my new canvas to the two 16″ x 20″ panels on the table. Then I’ll prime the canvas with the primer in the photo below. That will be the surface I will paint on from now on. Fine canvas glued to panels and then primed with toned, non-absorbent acrylic primer.
