No More Saggy Canvases for Painting: Rabbit Skin Glue Sizing + Oil Primer

Are your canvases too loose? This technique fixes that problem! See in this demo how to mix rabbit skin glue sizing, apply it to the raw canvas, step by step. Included is how to add oil primer to the sized canvas. Featuring Art Prof Clara Lieu and Teaching Artist Alex Rowe.
Watch the full length video with other ways of preparing a surface for painting: • Stretching a Canvas fo...
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Clara Lieu was an Adjunct Professor at the Rhode Island School of Design from 2007-2020. Her artwork has been exhibited at the International Print Center NY, the Currier Museum, Childs Gallery, the Davis Museum, and more. Lieu received an artist fellowship from the MA Cultural Council, has written for the NY Times, and lectured at Brown University, the NAEA conference, and in Vancouver & China. She has been profiled in Artsy, Hyperallergic, KPCC, & WBUR.
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[@dolphinboy9717]

she doesn't really know what she's talking about. RSG is reusable when it's jelled. U can keep in the fridge for a few weeks and can be rewarmed 3-5 times. it loses a bit of strength each time, but not overly so. Just don't boil it or its wrecked. Brushes with dried rsg can be cleaned by putting in hot water and washing.
RSG is not meant to be worked into the canvas like she is doing. You do 2 coats. The first is with 1/2 diluted warm rsg. use a wide brush and do horizontal strokes light and quickly left to right - one shot. Do NOT go over the stroke a second time. go to to bottom. The first diluted coat sinks into the linen/canvas. Let dry. It should feel like coarse sandpaper.
The 2nd coat is with full strength. Done the same way, with a light quick SINGLE horizontal stroke, warm rsg, across with wide brush. do not restroke it, just work across top to bottom with no overlap. The 2nd coat is meant to sit ON the first, not go into the canvas. The first coat keeps the 2nd from sinking in. It is meant as a barrier between paint and canvas. If done right the second coat will feel like sandpaper too. it can be sanded a bit with fine grain.
The gesso she is doing is FAR too thick and applied all wrong. This is guaranteed to cause problems and will take ages to dry properly. The gesso is meant to go on very thin, and in a few layers - usually 2-5, and with a brush. GEsso/primer is to be worked into the canvas, not caked on top. Do similar to the size- slightly dilute the first coat with turps. second+ coats can be full thickness The weave is supposed to be apparent. Light sanding is fine in between coats or after. The way she is doing it will create a slick surface with no tooth, poor paint adhesion and the finished painting will peel off in places. How do i know? i've done exactly what she did when i first started and have many ruined paintings. It also makes for a horrible painting experience. The canvas is really great for brush handling, so u want to keep the whole size/primer thing thin enough so handling is not destroyed. If u look at old canvases like rubens or whatever, the weave is very apparent. Too thick of rsg/primer makes for cracking paintings later and inflexible canvas, and just bad everything. If anything, err on the side of too little and too thin size+primer.
It takes a ton of canvases to get the hang of size/gesso/primer. The primer part is touchy - it is easy to create a horrible painting surface by bad technique, too thin, too thick, poor layering, poor drying, etc. I've done maybe 400-500 and still feel like i'm not consistent and just an amature with it all. It's an art in itself.

[@Avi_Z.]

Fascinating!!!

[@robinread2250]

Have a Look at how picture framers use rabbit skin glue and gesso for preparing surfaces for gilding. I think their process in better and it does not need and oil primer, and therefore the canvas can be used for other mediums.

[@artprof]

Thanks for the tip!!! There's always more techniques to learn, and we're excited to put in the work :) - Mia, Art Prof Staff

[@godslittleartist9976]

How many layers of oil primer?

[@artprof]

I usually only do one, perhaps there are other people that do more than one, but in my opinion, it’s not necessary.-Prof Lieu