Canvas Priming Methods Used by the Old Masters 

Cruel and sick that your videos, unmatched with in depth information including scientific basis mixed with history and satisfying visual demonstrations, Don't ever give up. You deserve 1 million subscribers, not 20 k

You are a professional of a different standard. You are from the fundamentals. Your videos are a definite research materials. Thanks a lot for posting such wonderful & educational videos on oil painting. Hope all artists learn the amount if effort, that had gone into the oil paintings from the day it all started. Your videos bring out these facts in a striking way. Thanks a lot

Wonderful and very helpful video. Thank you.

please do a video where you show the actual process from making the canvas, stretching then putting on the different grounds... I guess you will need several canvas'.. love your work!!

Saludos desde Arecibo, Puerto Rico. Dios bendiga tu talento. Gracias por compartir tu conocimiento y experiencia.

Thank you very much, for adding the Arabic translation

Hi Luis, I finally found the time to watch this long awaited installment on your excellent series on old master techniques. I was interested to see you string a canvas on a strainer and use your priming knife. One advantage of stringing the canvas, is that you don't get the canvas stuck to the stretcher when you apply the rabbit skin glue. This can be a nuisance, as it allows the primer to strike through to the point of contact with the stretcher. I have found it necessary to release the back of the canvas from the face of the stretcher, by running a plastic kitchen spatula along it. Or, taking it off and restretching it. Many years ago I was given a recipe, by a theatrical scene painter, for a half chalk ground, which gives a little more flexibility to the initial priming. Essentially, after your two coats of size has dried, take your dry materials (calcium carbonate, pigment) mix them together, make a well, pour in some prepared size, then float a measure of linseed oil on the top, 1 part oil to 3 part size. Fold in and mix to a paste, then add additional size to make a creamy mixture. I used a metal developing tray, which I could keep warm,, to contain the Primer. I have successfully used this method for many years on larger canvases. Thank you for your videos, they have greatly added to my knowledge of old master techniques.

Thank you dear Luis Borero,help me a lot..God bless you...Cielito..Artist of fine Arte...from California..

Glad I found you. I watch the BBC series, Fake or Fortune. They were studying two paintings, one by Thomas Lawrence and one by Moriah Cosway. Mr. Lawrence's painting is like new and Mrs. Cosway's is full of cracks. Both are made in the same time frame, about 1760 or so. That made me realize I need to learn alot more than I know. I'm simply buying pre-primed canvases and not priming them myself at all. I see the error of my ways now after watching your video. I want to paint on smooth surfaces and have my work look new in the future. Thanks for this video. I'm a new fan. Joan Williamson

Thank you very much Luis. I'm very glad I came across your channel

Buenas tardes maestro, esta clase se hizo esperar bastante, pero sus seguidores siempre estamos pendientes de sus actualizaciones. Muchas gracias por este excelente video.

I just love this video, which is in my opinion a masterpiece of art motivation videos. Such a well-presented and profound craftsmanship and knowledge. Thank you for the great work and for keeping tradition in high esteem and for making us curious to learn about and reconnect to the tradition.

Hallo Luis, Sebastian here from Amsterdam. Thank you for mentioning Ukraine, that touched my heart. Could you continue to show the process of the double ground, up to an underpainting? It does not make sense to me to cover the brown completely with a gray. I suspect that the gray of the second layer found in cross sections was not priming, but underpainting in white and umber or earth colors, with the first brown coming through in shadows and acting as a complementary color for cool colors of the underpainting. As an art historian I have seen many of such underpaintings. Willem Kalf his paintings of farm interiors for instance. So can you explain about the pictorial function of the gray priming layer please? Thank you for all your efforts and for your wonderful kindness to share your findings with us!

By subscribing to your channel I made my day Thank you sir 🙏

Excellent video. I'm always appreciative of your RU-vid videos. I love the song choice for your demonstration section, by the way. Very inspiring.

Las radiografías de muchos cuadros dejan entrever también un cuchillo muy similar al de uso actual. Ese cuchillo escalpelo tiene un uso más adecuado para las capas más subyacentes en preparciones mixtas. Se parece al que usaban los antiguos doradores para enrasar estucos.

Good information on preparing canvases.

Excelente explicación desde la historia de matariales, pintura, imprimación, etc... muchos aspectos que no vi durante toda la carrera de artes !!! Muchas gracias Maestro !!

Thank you for the advices! Also very cool knife :)

Excelente video... Lleno de datos profundos de investigación, condensados en pocos minutos.. Gracias

Wonderful explanation! Great informative! Thank You!

very knowledgeable video , thank you so much sir.

Hello! I'm looking for the video where you show how to use this stretching method, but can't find it. Can you post a link? Thnx for all the great videos btw!

Excelente explicación e información maestro, es una joya en medio de un océano de desinformación, su canal es muy didáctico e informativo con mucha investigación que su servidor agradece mucho, le deseo el mayor de los éxitos en esta titánica empresa👍

Thank you Amazing job, you are much appreciated

One thing that I noticed in priming, is that there's little advantage in using a double primed lead ground on a very coarse linen, and by that I mean 2x lead ground not what you've done. When scaping the first white layer down into the weave the high darker linen points show through the paint. It's actually better to have a mid tone first priming closer to the tone of the linen. Any linen weave spots that might ghost through this mid tone are basically irrelevant because they're about the same as this paint layer anyway.

Thank you Sir very informative 🖌️🙏

Increíble el proceso y los resultados de tu investigación inmersiva. Muchas gracias por compartir, que tengas éxito con el curso 👍👍👍

Yes, I saw one of his paintings here in N.C. beautiful work. It had tons of cracks in it tho

Thank you so much!

Muchas gracias por el magnífico video, Maestro Borrero. Me encantó ver el lienzo tensado. Se me antoja incluso para dejarlo montado así en algún trabajo. Se me ocurre que se podría proteger la cuerda tal como se protege el lienzo (rsg + bases o gesso, etc) para evitar pronta degradación. Saludos desde Alemania.

Absolutely awesome channel 👌👌

Thank you sir! I would like to hear also about technique of Tintoretto please:)

Gracias Maestro, he aprendido mucho con sus videos, constantemente se vuelven cada vez más interesantes, incluso coleccionables de cara a la formación pictórica y el amplio conocimiento sobre los antiguos maestros de la pintura. Mi agradecimiento y admiración por su loable labor.

Hello, I was wondering whether you have any advice about expanding painting by sewing extra canvases together? How could one hide the seam?

Where do you buy the dry pigments? Thank you.

awesome, thanks

Hi Luis, fantastic video as always.....did you get cusping or scalloping around the edges? I try & encourage my customers, if interested, to watch your channel, thanks again.

Thanks

would you ever make some of your custom made materials available to purchase in your website, like the palette knife or the Rembrandt lead white?

I heard that rabbit glue makes it more cracking over time. Perhaps its depend of how thick layiring

Did they frame Canvas like that ( stretches by strings)? Or how did one tansfer it from a string frame to a stretching frame?.. i know the ones how we used where invented much later...how did that work ?

I heard Rembrandt used a red bole ground then a layer of gray then green.

😊

Hi, I would like to know more about fabrics. is it worth using fabrics with current technologies, such as those that are resistant to water and sun? Wouldn't they be better than linen, for example?

What is the name of your friend that created the design of the knife? If you would give us his name. And perhaps how to contact him. Thank you

Holaaaa Luis !!!!! Excelente Vídeo!!!! Por favor...Sácame de una DUDA. No quiero pintar sobre Bastidor, Ni sobre tabla. Quiero pintar sobre lienzo así como Viene. ¿Qué pasa si no "ESTIRO" el lienzo para Pintar? Es TAN NECESARIO "ESTIRARLO"? Le afectará con el paso de los Años??? Eso me preocupa porque quiero que mis pinturas perduren lo más que pueda en el Tiempo!!! Debo forzosamente ESTIRARLO!!!! 😀 Muchísimas Gracias 😊😊😊

Can I dillute the oil ground a little bit with turpentine and aply it with brush?

Excuse me sir, My canvas is Gesso canvas(primed five layers gesso already), so Can I apply some Calcium carbonate for ground? Thank you sir.

What method of stretching canvas is this called?

Wooowww . 😍

Thank you so much. Very good information. What proportion did you use for earth pigment and calcium carbonate?

Is the lead ground production recorded In your udemy course?

Can we cover the work done with oil paint with gesso?

If we need stard with what we have in the market ,what is the the best in material..fabric for canvas, wood frames, colors, do you sugested some company who sale natural pigment ,are not to spencil...how evalue our work,price, and ,frame more cheap and good..in the City of Modesto the galerie did want have the price of the money, they did care the cost for me to paint...some fraud Idid face..people want the paint for 20 dolars..etc..do you have some sugestion?...

Don`t exist a substitute for a rabit skin glue, to make the background ?

In addition I would like to add. If you would please be more attentive and how to stretch the canvas. Meaning how to do the string. Thank you

WHAT IS THE NAME OF THE SONG? MIN. 35:40

Badger softener to lay on rabbit skin glue?? Nah, use a hog hair bristle brush; save your badger for delicate work, they are much too expensive!

Simplify.

Hello Luis, how are you? I hope very well... I wanted to ask you what type of fabric you use to paint? and which one would you recommend... thank you very much.

Thank you for a very interesting material and a huge thank you for your support. Greetings from Ukraine 💙💛

Great , where do you buy rabbit glue? And so amazing ground it is , want to do

At 42:45 I got again the impression, that nothing can compete with lead white when it comes to traditional painting techniques. It seems to me that there is no other white that can compete with it. If it would not be so poisonous... But making own lead white with safety precautions and personal safety protection material such as a good mask, good hand gloves, good ventilation, careful handling when washing, grinding, and mixing to oil paint, would this not be achievable for making just enough white lead paint for own use? I am puzzled here, to be honest, but am also proud of my first lead carbonate oxidized/acidized/carbonized.

…great presentation as usual 🔥🔥🔥🔥

Hello luis, priceless information! What are your thoughts on synthetic canvas like acrylic/polyester fiber. Where I'm it is incredibly difficult to obtain linen and cotton is too stretchy i find. Also what are your thoughts on using boiled linseed oil from the hardware store is it suitable for the ground layer? I only can only find refined linseed oil where i live and it takes so long to dry. Thank you 🙏

instead of chalk , does gypsum work ?

Vengo por el canal de cesar Córdoba xd aunque no tengo materiales de pintura me encanta ver q haces xd

13:25 - some weeks ago I was looking on the internet for any video or text explaining or showing this old way of stretching the canvas and I could only find one text, that explained very little. I'm curious to see this! (By the way, I've already watched some videos of this channel, they are great!)

Wonderful stuff Mr Borrero, have you had any experience recreating the techniques of Frans Hals?

Hello Luis, wonderful presentation! May I ask, do you mix pigment with medium oil with dryer?

Fascinating . My interest in Vermeer has just increased 10-fold . I'll revisit this you tube subject many many times , to be sure . Thank you for posting .

very useful information, I appreciate your knowledge! Greetings!

Where did you get the stone grinding stone?

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