Over the last few years miniature painting has gained new interest, partly down to the increased curiosity in calligraphy. Calligraphy itself is linked to book illumination, a forerunner of miniature painting techniques. Miniature painting became popular during the 17th century as a technique for producing portraits of loved ones, enabling the owner to take their likeness around with them.
Whether an artist is specialising in pet portraits, landscapes, or traditional portraits, keeping the colours as pure as possible is an important element to keeping their paintings fresh.
The way in which any colour appears is dependant on the circumstance in which it is seen. The way colours are seen is effected by the colours adjacent to it and on which it is set.
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.
With a few painting techniques, similar to those used by many pet portrait artists, detail is an important part of the completed picture. As such, it is important to produce preliminary drawings, but what’s the easiest way to transfer the finished drawing to the canvas? Historically, artists have employed one of three methods to do this, the following explanations describe the principle behind them.
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.
