Looking for a lightweight yet high quality, sturdy surface when working en plein air? Conceived with this in mind, Jackson’s introduces the Ultralite Linen Boards – easily transportable, ultra-thin and ready-made boards with the finest professional-grade Belgian linen.
Jackson’s Ultralite Linen Boards are an ideal companion for artists working and travelling outside. Whether you’re working in acrylics, oil or other media, this new range should suit most artistic needs and a range of sizes are available: 5×7, 8×10, 9×12, 10×12, 12×16 inches.
The Ultralite boards are good quality and are available in two different thicknesses, the 0.8mm style consists of a paper and resin composite board, while the 3.2mm style has a PVC composite board.
The finest quality Belgian linen is glued onto the board using an archival glue and primed either universally or for oil. Three different Belgian linen styles are available, offering a variety of surfaces to choose from in order to meet the requirements of artists working in different media:
The Claessens 66 Medium Surface canvas (460 gsm) is a fine choice for artists working with oils. It has a medium texture and has been double primed: first, zinc white is used as a primer, bound with linseed oil. The canvas is then left to dry naturally for three days, after which the canvas is then sanded and a coating layer based on titanium white is applied. The final step involves drying the canvas for ten days.
For artists working across acrylics, oils and other media who are looking for a universally primed surface, the Claessens 109 and 166 Medium surfaces are ideal and come ready-primed with two primer layers of titanium white.
Two different texture styles are available in the universally primed surface. If you’re looking for an extra fine and smooth texture, the Claessens 109 Medium surface (363 gsm) will be best suited to you, while Claessens 166 Medium Surface (415 gsm) offers a heavier medium texture linen, ideal for landscape painting. The tighter weave and stronger thread count of the 166 style allow the linen to support large scale works and heavier paint layers.
Jackson’s Ultralite Boards are a practical, ultra light, high quality yet economical companion to travelling artists and plein air painters.
Available in a variety of canvas sizes: 5×7, 8×10, 9×12, 10×12, 12×16 inches.
View the full range via the Jackson’s website here.
8 thoughts on “Introducing Jackson’s Ultralite Linen Boards”
What about watercolour, would they also suit this medium. I
tried ampersand boards and found them to be unsuitable
they didn’t with water well and I used them up with acrylic.
Hi Sylvia,
Thank you for your message. As a watercolourist myself I would say that because of the texture of the canvas, unless you work quite dry (almost as if it was acrylic) you might find the surface to be a little bit too textured. I’ve got one of the ultralite boards in the office so if it isn’t being used for anything else I will give it a test with watercolour and see how it performs! Thanks, Christine
Why would you use a non-archival glue to manufacture these
boards?
Hi Harry,
The canvas and the primer are fully archival, as are the boards themselves, and we’ve been trying to get in touch with the manufacturer of the boards to establish the longevity of the glue. If you are worried about the adhesive, perhaps you would prefer to work on our slightly heavier MDF boards, which use a stable, pH-neutral adhesive. Hope this helps!
https://www.jacksonsart.com/oil-primed-medium-linen-cl536-on-mdf-board-18-x-24cm
Hi, I can see the comment about the non archival
glue dates from last year. Have you found out
about the longevity of the glue? I just purchased a
couple of htese boards and would like to know a
bit more…
Hi Katia
The glue is archival. I have updated the post. Thanks for letting us know about it needing an update.
Hi Julie
I was wondering if it’s possible to cut these
boards to bespoke sizes?
Hi Gillian.
Yes you can cut these with a sharp craft knife.
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