Resources for artists
To make information on these works accessible to all, Resene have developed this Artist’s Canvas section.
Gesso
Controversy certainly exists in the area of artists wanting to use archivable products in their work as well as being attracted to the economies of mass produced house paints. A major hurdle is immediately imposed by the fine art suppliers, damning such products as ‘ordinary house paint’. Whilst lower quality products do exist, high quality, modern architectural coatings are, in fact, quite extraordinary products. more
Primers
Resene Quick Dry acrylic primer undercoat is the ideal primer undercoat for both stretched and unstretched canvases. A very flexible, easy to apply coating, Resene Quick Dry has excellent opacity and provides a very receptive finish for topcoating.
Topcoats
Resene recommends using the lightly cross-linked products, such as Resene Enamacryl gloss waterborne enamel, Resene Lustacryl semi-gloss waterborne enamel or Resene SpaceCote Low Sheen waterborne enamel, for artist work because of their ‘non-blocking’ properties and the ability to remove damage from inadvertent contact with potentially harmful or staining materials. Comparing Resene Enamacryl to Resene Hi-Glo, one achieves the same depth of colour, similar gloss, slightly lower exterior durability, slightly less flexibility, vastly better block resistance and vastly better cleanability.
There is always a compromise in selecting paint. The Resene waterborne enamel range of Resene Enamacryl/Resene Lustacryl/Resene SpaceCote Low Sheen gives the best compromise for the artist. Resene Zylone SpaceCote also has the best burnish resistance of any low sheen paint that we have tested. This completely overcomes sometimes reported problems of creating glossy patches when cleaning low sheen paints.
Glazes
If painting murals on the outside of buildings then the case for overvarnishes is incontrovertible. They are the cheapest way to extend the longevity of any coating system. A product such as Resene Clearcoat UVS will at least double the lifetime of even the most light sensitive pigment compositions.
This type of protection is not needed indoor. Overvarnishing paintings can give a monotony of gloss level and impact on the overall effect. Varnishes are often badly applied – any brushmarks may detract from the enjoyment of a painting.
If overglazing is desired, a flat finish such as Resene Concrete Clear applied by spray is recommended. If spray application is not available, use a ‘speedbrush’ for fast, accurate application with a minimum of brushmarking.
Other products of interest to artists
- Resene X-400 is a very useful material for palette knife painting – a white, an ultra deep tone and some MPS tinters can keep you busy painting for hours.
- Resene Hot Weather Additive is useful to artists to control application.
- Resene Broadwall Surface Prep & Seal is brilliant as a Gesso.
- Resene testpots – handy 60ml testpots of Resene Lumbersider low sheen waterborne paint available in over 2000 colours. Ideal when only a little of any one colour is required. Available for ordering online or at any Resene ColorShop.
- Resene FilmPro is a tough waterborne finish designed to colour and enhance sets. Available in a standard range of colours, digital blue and green and reduction and clear bases.
The Resene website includes a number of technical notes that may be of interest to artists.
- Durability of paints
The agents working towards breakdown of exposed surface coatings are U.V. light, water, and oxygen, in this order of importance. These agents not only work individually, but can gang up against the coating creating unholy synergisms. more - A pigment of the imagination
By far their greatest technical benefit is however that they meld perfectly with the paint binder, blurring the distinction between pigment and binder. This translates into super tough, cleanable, burnish resistant surfaces. more - True blue – colour formulating
The mixing of complementary colours will produce black and indeed Monet was known for never using a black pigment, preferring to produce his blacks by the blending of complementary colours. more - Waterbased enamels – an oxymoron surely
The technology involves fundamental changes in how the polymer is assembled sub-microscopically to allow films that form easily yet develop very fast block resistance. Further technology allows subsequent curing to occur, changing the thermoplastic nature of the coating and allowing the development of grease, solvent and sebum resistance. more - Resene Quick Dry acrylic primer undercoat
The product also has some very desirable features other than the convenience of being waterbased and fast drying. more - Weatherbeaten?
Although U.V. alone is enough to damage human skin, it is a combination of both U.V. and moisture that wreaks the most damage on paint films. more
Artist’s gallery
A wide range of artists are using Resene paints in their work, on everything from interior paintings to tactile artworks and mural masterpieces.
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Colours shown on this website are a representation only. Please refer to the actual paint or product sample. Resene colour charts, testpots and samples are available for ordering online. See measurements/conversions for more details on how electronic colour values are achieved.
A comparison of hardboard vs. stretched canvas for painting
When an artist is introduced to creating works of art, the surface that comes to mind for applying paint is made of canvas that has been stretched over wood supports. This was not always the case. Historically, solid wood panels were used for paintings long before the adoption of flexible fabric supports.
Solid wood used as the substrate for paintings is wonderful, but any large painting with solid wood support is massively heavy. The preparation of solid wood creates an exquisite surface, but in the past when it was the dominant surface for paintings, the preparation process was time-consuming. Both the skills of a woodworker and an apprentice artist were required to create panels ready for paint application.
Raphael (Italian, 1483-1520), La Fornarina, 1519, oil on panel
Woodworking technology of the past could only create panels using thick boards glued together side by side. The wood needed to be thick to provide a sufficient gluing surface to bond the boards together. While thin wood would have cut down on weight, gluing them side by side would not provide enough surface area needed to keep the panel from falling apart. The concept of layering thin wood was not feasible given the technology in the past. Unfortunately, because solid wood retains the structure of the tree from which the boards were harvested, it reacts when subjected to changes in temperature and moisture.
So, while solid wood is a fantastic surface to paint on, its inherent limitations of weight that restrict the size of a panel and its propensity to change dimensionally curbed it from being the ideal substrate of choice. This is especially true as the demand for large paintings came into being.
The use of canvas has been practical and maintains a long history of use. Banners for church celebrations and creating works of art where direct application of paint to a permanent architectural surface such as a fresco was not feasible, made the adoption of canvas ideal.
Back of Still Life With Fruits, 19th Century, oil on stretched canvas
It is lightweight, the wood stretchers surrounding an artwork are only a small fraction of the assembled painting support. Canvas can be woven and even stitched together to make massively large paintings. Canvas paintings are portable, and they do not have to be executed at the location where they will be displayed. When paintings started to be exhibited, the practicality of canvas was essential, especially when very large paintings were made.
But everything comes with a price. Stretched canvas also reacts to temperature and humidity and the long-term ill effects of the environment reveal themselves on the surface of a work of art on canvas. Cotton or linen fibers react to temperature and humidity by stretching and shrinking. While the movement is amazingly small, over time, the effects are substantial. In addition, shock or vibration of a painting is telegraphed into the surface and results in damage to a painting.
One of the most important factors that hamper the longevity of oil paints on canvas is that it becomes brittle as it ages.
Its tendency to become “glass-like” over time means that the longer-lived elasticity of canvas conflicts with the brittleness of the paint. Think of applying stiff glue to the surface of a rubber band. Once dry, if the rubber band is stretched, the tension of that applied force must be alleviated somewhere, and that somewhere results in the glue delaminating from the rubber band. While paint does not dramatically pop off the surface of a work of art in large segments, over time small bits will cleave off the painting.
What we observe in paintings is mostly a network of hairline cracks forming on the surface, a sign that the paint is brittle and that years of changes in temperature and humidity have caused the paint to react.
Anyone can observe the effects of time on paintings when visiting a museum. The fine crack lines and the concentric circles (that look like a stone thrown into a pond) emanating from a corner of a canvas painting reveal that the work of art suffered a blow to the corner of the stretcher. These surface problems tell a visual story of the environment and handling of a painting over time.
However, all is not lost. Modern technology has evolved, and solutions have come into existence that address the issues of providing good dimensional support that dampens the propensity for canvas to move with changes in temperature and relative humidity.
It is rare for products from the building materials industry to have the qualities needed to be adopted as an art material, but the creation of hardboard was a lucky break. Thanks to William H. Mason who initially observed that the lumber processing industry generated a large volume of waste wood materials, Mason planned to extract solvents like turpentine from wood waste, but that effort turned out to be financially unsuccessful.
William H. Mason, founder of Masonite
He pivoted to processing the wood into insulation panels but an error in a wood processing experiment exposed his wood fibers to extended heat and pressure. The surprising result was a thin, tough, board which came to be known as Masonite.
Over time, the term “Masonite” has become a proprietary eponym, Conservator Alexander W. Katlan stated in 1994, “All hardboards today are basically Masonite-process boards.”
The underlying assets of hardboard make it an ideal painting surface. It has vast improvements over panel options previously available. Cut and dressed lumber retains its tree-like qualities promoting warping and twisting when subjected to changes in relative humidity and temperature. Hardboard is instead composed of shredded wood that still possesses the components in wood that make it strong, but the pathways to uptake humidity no longer exist. The process of manufacturing hardboard makes it resistant to temperature and humidity changes when subjected to the same conditions that would cause lumber to dimensionally shift.
Hardboard uses natural adhesives in wood and with heat and pressure, forms a homogenous panel that is stable.
Pedro Cervántez (American, 1915-1987), Casita, c. 1935-1942, oil on Masonite
Jackson Pollock (American, 1912-1956), No. 15, 1950, oil on Masonsite
When comparing stretched canvas to hardboard panels as a painting substrate, while canvas is a wonderful support, the cotton or linen vegetable fibers oxidize over time and the paint becomes brittle.
Detail of Still Life With Fruits, 19th Century, oil on stretched canvas
In the museum world, old canvas paintings eventually need to be supported by relining them with new cloth attached to the back of the original canvas. Hardboard panels do not need this type of treatment. Hardboard, properly prepared with adequate surface coatings, protect the paint layer from damage that is found in canvas paintings.
If artists prefer a canvas painting surface, they can enjoy the look and feel of canvas by adhering it to hardboard.
George Inness (American, 1825-1894), Milton on the Hudson (Close of a Rainy Day), c. 1883-1886, oil on canvas mounted on Masonite
Artists are fortunate to have research data on all wood materials, especially hardboard, generated by the laboratories of wood product manufacturers that have tested hardboard for dimensional stability. The United States Forest Products Service also has a long history of providing the public with valuable information on the performance of wood products, especially wood that is exposed to the elements. Artists can be confident that, when properly prepared, hardboard serves as one of the substrates that can fulfill their needs for a dependable surface for works of art.
About Michael Skalka:
Michael Skalka is an art materials expert and the current Chairman of D01.57, Artists’ Materials, a standards making subcommittee that is part of the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM). He served for over 36 years at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC as Conservation Administrator along with overseeing a collection of 25,000 art materials produced from the 19 th to the 21 st centuries.
Michael maintains The Syntax of Color that focuses on the history of pigments, art materials usage, and techniques, reviews of art products, and health and safety tips for artists.
