artistssurvivalguide.org

STORE AND CARE

  • ONLY TRY THIS ON YOUR OWN WORK: If canvas warps or deforms from something poking it or resting on it, turn the painting around and brush some water into the back of the canvas around the indentation – brush it in like you are priming it and get the water into the weave, but do not soak the canvas. The water will stretch the back of the canvas as it dries and remove most/all of the deformity. Don’t do this on old paintings as the moisture can cause the paint to come away from the surface.
  • If you have to take the painting off the stretcher and roll it – roll it face side out.
  • Canvas can slacken after painting or over time. Artists’ stretchers have special slots so that you can hammer wedges into them which slightly push the stretcher bars apart and re-stretch the canvas. Knock these in equally to avoid the stretcher
    going out of shape.
  • To unwarp wooden stretchers, slightly moisten the wood and then clamp the stretcher tightly against something straight. Leave it a couple of days to dry out. Wooden stretchers will warp if exposed to damp, heat or direct sunlight.
  • Place paintings on chops (two identical bits of wood or, ideally, hard foam) – never directly on the floor. Make sure the paintings are leaning straight against the wall to avoid the stretcher warping.
  • If storing paintings together, make sure their stretcher frames can only rest on other frames and never on the canvas.
  • If storing in your studio, paintings are best left unwrapped, in indirect light.