When it comes to watercolor, watercolor paper is not the only surface that you can choose to paint on. It is one of the most frequently asked questions by artists and painters and the answer is a yes. You can use watercolor on canvas. However, the process can be a bit more complicated than it actually seems. There are a few things that need to be kept in mind before opting for canvas as a medium for watercolor painting.
Many are curious about suing the canvas themselves and consider it to be a great opportunity to try out this alternative when it comes to traditional watercolor paper. Below, we have a bit of information for watercolor and canvas and if they can be both used together.
What is a watercolor canvas?
Watercolor paper is known to be an absorbent support as opposed to canvas for watercolor. It is a medium that is heavily dependent on the paper to paper to partially absorb as well as fix the paint to the surface and even the underlying paper fibers. On the other hand, canvas is more commonly used for oils or acrylics. These types of paints are usually applied to a bon-absorbent ground where the paint stays on the surface.
The bottom line is that if you want to use canvas for watercolor prints or painting, you need to change the texture of the surface from non-absorbent to absorbent. A watercolor paper or “canvas” is simply a canvas that has been specially prepared to absorb the watery nature of the paints. Watercolor on canvas can be aided with a modified surface finish that helps in absorbing the paint in a similar finish.
Different types of watercolor canvas
If you are already familiar with canvas and love its appearance and texture, you will also wish to work with watercolors. Or sometimes people are just curious as to how traditional canvas can make good alternative to paper. So what can be the options? There are a couple of different ways where you can take advantage of canvas while painting with watercolors.
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Use a ready-to-paint watercolor canvas
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Prime a standard canvas with watercolor ground
These canvases can be deemed as similar to normal fabric canvases. The textures of these canvases are very fine which relatively makes it easier to apply watercolor on canvas. Once again it depends upon the artist in terms of what suits him/her the best or consider ready to hang canvas prints online.
