Supports

Learn how to paint ACM panels with expert tips on priming, testing, and selecting archival-quality materials for durable artwork. 

Discover the crucial role of adhesion testing for ACM panels, why primers are essential, and how artists can ensure the longevity of their artwork through DIY tests and tested materials.

Learn the best oil painting conservation methods for artists. Explore techniques, materials, and expert recommendations to preserve paintings over time.

Explore effective strategies to prevent canvas degradation. Learn how material choices and environmental controls can protect your art. This is essential reading for every artist.

Take your painting skills to the next level by understanding the different types of solvents and their uses. This comprehensive guide is written for artists with advanced knowledge of the topic of solvents and covers everything from traditional solvents to newer alternatives.

While we do not know why oil painting on copper enjoyed popularity from the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries, we may be able to provide some reasons based on historical evidence linked to artistic tradition in both the cultural and economic context of the period. This article details the reasons why copper enjoyed brief popularity and may provide the initiative for today’s art renewal and the second renaissance of copper painting.

With the recent surge in popularity of painting on metal, such as aluminum composite material (ACM) and copper, some have questioned its viability regarding the thermal expansion of the metal. When an object is heated or cooled, its length changes by an amount proportional to the original length and the temperature change. This is known as “linear thermal expansion,” or the change in the length of a material.

Support Induced Discoloration (SID) occurs when paint changes color due to pulling up water-soluble substances from the substrate. As the paint dries, these particles remain in the paint, discoloring it. Read how to avoid the discoloration of paint on wood supports.

For over a hundred years, most of the causes of cracking have been explored: humidity and temperature, expansion and contraction, stress, and paint embrittlement. The symptoms were obvious—cracking and paint loss—but the causes were not clearly understood. In 1982, Marion Mecklenburg and other scientists at the Smithsonian Institute reported the first systematic explanation of painting mechanics, especially that of canvas paintings.

Canvas has become the most common support for oil painting, replacing wooden panels. One of the earliest surviving oil paintings on canvas is the French Virgin and Child with Angels from around 1410 in the Gemäldegalerie, Berlin. However, panel painting remained in everyday use until the sixteenth century in Italy and the seventeenth century in Northern Europe. Mantegna and Venetian artists were among those leading the change. Religious differences and guild practice, as well as the availability of supports—good quality wood in Northern Europe and a flourishing flax growing and weaving tradition in Southern Europe—likely influenced the preference and adoption of supports. As materials and paintings were imported and exported and artists traveled to Italy, the influence of Italian techniques filtered north.

The best practice for preparing Dibond (tradename for a brand aluminum composite materials or ACM) for oil painting.

Welcome to Natural Pigments' Glossary of common and not so common Paint and Art Terms. Here we hope to give you a brief definition of various art terms which might be unfamiliar. If you have any questions, comments, or ideas, please contact us.