Whether the artist wanted to paint expressive portraits, landscapes or abstract works, they have long found that the texture of paint can be an integral part of the painting experience. Painters found that this effect could be utilised to show form and texture and, by the nineteenth century had developed it further into the technique now known as impasto. As the nineteenth century progressed, artists started using this technique for it’s own sake, creating works using this method alone.
Since the early Renaissance, artists working on portraits in oil (or any other subject for that matter) have always started with a layer of size to seal the raw canvas or board prior to the gesso ground. It’s role is to protect the canvas from the chemicals in the paint that may cause it to decay. Today, if you use an acrylic primer, size is not always necessary, but it’s remains a good way of protecting the canvas and if you make your own gesso is a crucial part of the preparation.
Stretched canvas is a very popular option for pet portrait artists as a support for their paintings. However, there are other supports that can be just as suitable when you don’t have any canvases to hand. Wood has traditionally be used as a support for oils and is one of the earliest forms of support for painting.
For most artists, including those who specialise in pet portraits, stretching their own canvas not only saves money on commercially prepared canvases, but also provides them with a much better result. On the whole, commercially prepared canvases tend to be quite light weight with just the minimal number of primer layers needed. When we prepare our own canvases we select the quality of canvas, stretcher bars and primer that suits our painting style, so creating something that will work perfectly with our finished painting and greater chance of surviving in good order.
A significant part of any painting, whether a pet portrait or abstract picture, is the relationship in colour and tone. Tone is the degree of light and shade in the picture, it exists independently of colour and can be measured on a scale which progresses from white to black. The perception of colour is created by the eye’s response to light in different wavelengths; pure colour exists only as light, and as far as painters are concerned, all colours are also modified by tonal value.
