Treatment of canvas is very important, because this may affect your painting after you finish it. If you do not follow a good canvas treatment, after your painting is over, there may be huge value loss, which means the painting may look good when you finished it. But as time went on, most of the colors will be absorbed by the canvas and no amount of varnish will be able to recover it.
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Preparation of canvas
I believe preparation of canvas is very important. I treat my canvas with primer first and then with gesso. I generally apply 2 coats of both the items so all of the canvas gets covered. I do not want one bit of canvas to be left out without the coat. These coatings will have immense effect on the painting.
Gesso
Application of oil coat
I will wash the canvas with the water, dry the canvas and then I start with the painting. If you are an oil painting artist, it is very important to know how to prepare canvas for oil painting, how to create grid, how to varnish a painting and then how to preserve a painting. What to do after the painting is over ? I allow the painting to dry for about 3 -4 months after the painting is over. I live in India, so it is very hot between March and August, so allowing it to dry for 2 months is enough for me.
Varnish that I use
Then it is ready for varnish. Expert artists here allow painting to dry for six to seven months. They feel it is completely ready for varnish. Varnish is a tricky process. If it is done incorrectly, the painting may get damaged heavily. The colors on the painting gets removed and gets distributed everywhere if the painting if varnished before the painting is completely dry. Then it will be very difficult to correct the damage anywhere on the painting. If you have used the technique glazing or if you have used too much oil in the painting, it is safe to dry the painting for a minimum of 6 months.
Varnishing a painting
This is the output after varnish. How is it? Please share your thoughts.