How to display one of my large abstract art canvases
Summary
I send my paintings to customers around Great Britain via courier. Due to this, they are supplied as un-stretched canvases. This means that the canvases are sheets of fabric that are not yet attached to support frames. The paintings are sent as rolled-up pieces of fabric in strong cardboard tubes. I paint right up to the edge of the sheet of canvas.
Most customers choose to get their local picture framer to stretch the canvas for them. The canvas is wrapped over a simple wooden support frame and then stapled to the back of it. This is usually the simplest and cheapest way to display my art.
My customer photos show paintings that have generally been stretched by a professional picture framer.
The picture framer can offer lots of advice. Their prices do vary quite a lot so you may like to get several quotations, if possible.
Sometimes customers also opt for an external ‘traditional’ picture frame to surround the stretched canvas. The picture framer is likely to have lots of frame mouldings to choose from for this.
Some More Details
If you’d like some more background information about the canvas stretching process, or if you’re thinking of adopting a d.i.y. approach and want to stretch the canvas yourself, below are some details that you may find useful.
There are quite a few YouTube videos showing people stretching canvases at home using different methods. Some of these videos are very helpful.
The first two photos below show a fairly typical appearance of the back of a stretched canvas. The canvases were large and so central cross bars were used to provide additional strength to the wooden frames.
The second two photos show alternative approaches to making a wooden stretcher frame. They still produced frames that were strong and rigid, allowing the canvases to be stretched firmly over them. I know of one customer that made his own stretcher frame using rounded-edge timber from his local d.i.y. shop.
Wooden stretcher frames can vary in thicknesses, from about 2 cm up to approximately 5 cm. A 2 cm thick wooden stretcher frame is usually adequate for a canvas of up to about 1.5 x 1 m. You would normally include a cross bar with stretcher frames of this size to help give the frame strength.
With canvases larger than approximately 1.5 x 1 m, a picture framer may advise using a thicker 3.5 cm (or more) stretcher frame for the additional strength. However, it may still be just about possible to use the thinner 2 cm thick stretcher bars, but more intermediate support / cross bars are likely to be required to ensure the stretcher frame is strong enough so that it does not bow or twist when the canvas is stretched over it. However, most people would probably use thicker bars that are 3-4 cm thick for these larger sizes.
Here’s two photos showing one type of wooden canvas stretcher bar.
Another consideration is the final appearance. Some people prefer the look of a thicker stretched canvas when it is hung on your wall. The thicker canvas stretcher bars give the painting a deeper look when viewed from the side. This may work especially well for my paintings that are completely abstract in design.
When the canvas is stretched over a wooden frame like this, most customers chose not to then add a traditional external picture frame as well. However, it may be possible to still add an external picture frame. One or two customers like the appearance of this, especially when using a relatively minimalist-style picture frame for a chic, contemporary look that adds a clear border between the painting and the surrounding wall it is displayed on. Here is an example of one of my extra wide flower meadow paintings that the customer has had placed in an external black picture frame. I think it works brilliantly!
Here’s two more examples of my paintings in external frames.
Prices from picture framers can vary quite a lot. I would probably recommend getting several different quotations, if possible. To stretch one of my 160 x 112 cm canvases there are some framers that will charge about £80-£90. A more typical price may be £90- £110, though some may quote quite a lot more.
Below are two photos kindly sent to me by a customer. The first photo shows the back of a canvas that was stretched on to a wooden frame by a professional picture framer. The second photo shows another painting that I did for the same customer now on display in his home, after it had also been stretched on to a wooden frame by the picture framer.
If you enjoy d.i.y. you may like to stretch the canvas yourself. Wooden stretcher bars can be bought online from many shops. The wooden stretcher bar frame needs to be a little bit smaller than the total canvas size, to leave some canvas to be wrapped around the stretcher bars and stapled to the back. How much smaller the wooden stretcher bar frame needs to be depends on the thickness of the stretcher bars you chose. The thicker the stretcher bars, the more canvas fabric will be required to wrap over them. Wooden stretcher bars that are pre-cut to length will usually have mitred joints that allow the bars to be slotted together to make the frame. You are likely to need a cross-bar as well to give the frame rigidity.
One of the main advantages of canvas stretcher bars is that they usually accept ‘corner wedges’. These allow you to add extra tension to the canvas as soon as you have stretched it, or at a much later date, by expanding each stretcher bar joint by carefully tapping each corner wedge in to the corner. Another advantage is that the stretcher bars will normally have a rounded front lip to them. This is the part of the stretcher bar that is in contact with the canvas material on the front face. In theory, this can stop any unsightly lines appearing on the front of the canvas, caused by the inside edge of a wooden bar pressing on the canvas.
However, if you’re happy to forgo these features of ‘actual’ canvas stretcher bars, you may be able to use timber from a local d.i.y. shop to make a wooden frame to stretch the canvas on to. It’s helpful if the timber has rounded edges, to aid the stretching process.
One customer used 40 x 10 mm timber with a rounded edge to make his own frame to then stretch the canvas over. The photo below shows the timber he used and the 3 other photos show the brilliant result he achieved.
‘Canvas stretcher pliers’ make the process of pulling the canvas fairly tight much easier. They are used to grip the canvas fabric and pull it over the wooden frame. However, it is still possible to pull the canvas reasonably tight without these, if you have a strong finger and thumb pinch grip. You normally work from the middle outwards when stretching, putting a few staples in on one side and then on the opposite side. The YouTube videos will help show the actual workflow most people use.
A hand staple gun is used to staple the canvas to the timber frame.
The photos below show a stretcher frame that was made by my customers using spruce timber from their local d.i.y. shop.
Other approaches that I’m aware of include a customer that attached a large sheet of mdf to a wooden frame and then stapled the canvas to that. An even more cost-effective approach taken by a customer was to stick the loose canvas directly to the wall using readily available picture hanging stickers.
So I would say that overall, there are a range of options available to you to display my canvases on your walls!