"Story Road, II" (4x4")-201036Important to note: All trials listed below we painted with Winsor Newton professional grade paint mixed with varying quantities of walnut oil. I haven't been able to find an answer yet on the paint to oil parts ratio that is acceptable once the painting is dry. Today I painted on Centurion Oil Primed Deluxe linen. It's slick and took a very direct paint application. There was no jimmying around, so it put my knowledge of hue & value relationships to the test. Like usual, I mixed the paint before painting. If I hadn't known ahead of time which color and value should go where, I'd have ended up with a muddy mess. In this experiment, my goal was to paint with as few strokes as possible. I have now tried a number of different surfaces, including....
1. Claussen's Oil primed #13 100% Belgian linen (portrait grade, fine weave & sufficiently irregular so that it's not distracting to me in the thinner areas. Takes the paint beautifully and is drying after 3 days with some absorbancy, though the paint isn't losing much luster, so far.) Cost-$$$
2. Centurion Oil Primed Deluxe linen, (smooth texture, weave is regular but minimally distracting because it's smooth. Takes the paint nicely. I just finished the painting, so I'll have to update in a few days on how it dries and what happens to the luster.) Cost-$
3. Art Alternatives 100% linen, medium texture/acrylic primed (the weave is tight in comparison to Raymar's cotton canvas. Requires a thick application of paint to obscure the texture on the first stroke, so if there isn't enough paint on the knife, I have to do it twice, risking the ruin of surrounding strokes. Is drying with a lot of absorbancy in the thinner areas and probably too much lost luster). Cost-$$
4.
Raymar cotton duck/acrylic primed, medium texture (the weave is distractingly regular in the thinner areas, but the paint goes on very nicely. Is drying after 6 days with some amount of lost luster). Cost-$$
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