round 2: To paint on stretched canvas verses canvas board? Who will win?

This is a tough round for painters and collectors.

What is an oil painter to do? There are so many choices to make when choosing what to paint on. What is the difference of canvas on stretchers verses canvas on board? For this round we will be going head to head on the difference of painting on canvas on stretcher bars verses canvas on board.

Now there are many different types of canvas, many different types of stretcher bars and many different types of canvas on board. The actual types are not in this round in order to make a fair playing field I will talk about the canvas on stretchers as a whole unit verses canvas on board.

Canvas on stretchers or stretcher bars for those who do not know is basically four pieces of wood which have been kiln dried and fit together to make a frame. There is a hole in the middle of these four bars. The canvas is then taken on and pulled and stapled over the bars which makes it look like as one of my collectors stated very nicely "like a shoe box". It is wrapped around the edges.

Canvas on stretchers is great because canvas is a material and can dry rot if air does not get all around it. It needs to breath because it is a natural fabric. This stretch canvas does last a very long time. The one downfall to this technique is that the corners always seem to show some wear after a while especially for those of us who take work to art shows and are always putting it up and taking it down. It seems like the corners and the edges are always where I am touching the painting back up. When shipping it I have to wrap the corners in cardboard corners to make sure that is area does not chip during shipping. These do not need frames if the painting is "gallery wrapped" (that means the staples are in the back and not the side of the bars.) and the painting has been painted around the edges. They do need frames if the staples show when you hang it up or if not painted or if you want to for the look of it.

Canvas on board is great because it does not have this 'corner problem' and is so much easier to ship. These boards may however warp a little over time especially in high humidity. (Yes here I go again about humidity see round 1 for more!) The canvas on boards also need frames. They are hard to hand without frames. These boards are super easy to have on hand no storage needed. They are also easy to take on and outside trip to paint on.

So for this round we will sum it up:
Canvas on stretchers: 1 point for lasting (proven by the masters), 1 point for gallery wrap, 1 point for looking "like a shoe box", 1 point for being easy to hang

Canvas on board: 1 point for shipping, 1 point for no corner problem, 1 point for easy to have to store, 1 point the easiest to use when going outside to paint.

Wow! Now it really looks like they are tied! I did not realize it until I wrote this article today! Painting on either has its advantages and disadvantages. It looks like it is what ever the painter and collector prefer.