Canvas
A blank canvas symbolises the beginning of a creative journey. Our range includes linen, cotton, and jute canvases, each offering you distinct characteristics in weave, texture, and elasticity to suit different painting techniques. Whether you prefer the structure of a stretched canvas or the flexibility of a full canvas roll, we provide options for every artist.
Explore canvas by the metre, stretcher bars, canvas paper and pads, and essential tools and accessories, as well as canvas samples for your reference. If you have specific requirements, try our bespoke canvas builder.
Price is per metre, the length you order will be cut as a single piece from a roll and packed carefully to protect the surface. Also available in 10m rolls.
Canvas tightly stretched over a purpose made frame in order to create a springy, vibrant surface on which to paint. Available in a choice of profile depths.
High quality stretcher bars ready to assemble into any size combination. Simply choose two pairs and fit together. Designed for a seamless fit at the corners.
Cotton canvas boards are suitable for oil and acrylic painting - from thin washes to thick impasto marks. They are primed to protect the natural fibres of the cotton.
Pliers for achieving tension when stretching canvas, scrapers to work back paint, and carriers to transport wet canvases safely or store whilst drying.
Sheets of primed canvas and canvas textured paper suitable for oil and acrylic painting. Great for experiments, sketches, and finished works.
Bespoke Canvas
Choose the exact size of canvas you require, the perfect surface texture, and between museum quality wood and aluminium stretcher bars in a variety of depths.
Canvas Samples are an excellent way to try out a variety of painting surfaces and different weaves without committing to buying large sections of canvas.
Learn more about the different types of cotton and linen available, tips on how to prime and stretch a canvas, and what to consider in terms of framing.
About the Varieties of Canvas
Canvas is the traditional painter’s surface. An artist’s canvas is typically made from a tightly woven linen or cotton duck material stretched over a rectangular or square wooden frame. The material is prepared with size (traditionally rabbit skin glue) which has the dual purpose of tightening the material over the frame and protecting it from the oil of the paint. Over the size are several even layers of white primer.
Why do painters enjoy working on stretched canvas? There are several reasons. There’s the spring caused by the tension of the stretched canvas which bounces as you put your loaded brush to it. This makes the whole painting experience feel even more alive. Then there is the whiteness of a freshly primed substrate. You can rely on this to optimise the luminosity of your translucent colours. When paint is pushed across the textured weave of a canvas, it grabs onto the ridges of the warp and weft, creating the most subtle undulations in saturation which maximises colour vibrancy.
Ready-made stretched canvases allow painters to get on with their painting. We sell canvases by Belle Arti, Loxley, Winsor & Newton, and our own Jackson’s canvases. You also have the choice between universal or oil-primed surfaces.
Whole canvas rolls (as well as canvas by the metre) and the most resilient wooden and aluminium stretcher bars allow you to make the highest quality painting substrate to your very own specifications. We sell everything you’ll need, from Italian, French and Belgian linen to canvas pliers and accessories, rabbit skin glue, oil primer and acrylic primer, and priming brushes. All of our stretcher bars fit together with pre-cut grooves, so there’s no need for expert carpentry skills. If you like the sound of a tailor-made canvas without any need to be the tailor yourself, why not look at our online Bespoke Canvas Builder. Enter your preferences for stretcher depth, canvas and dimensions, and we’ll do the rest.
Of course, you may not feel the need to stretch canvas at all. Canvas panels and boards offer the rigidity of a flat surface that has a layer of canvas fixed to one side, so you can enjoy its weave. Canvas pads contain sheets of primed canvas that have been glue-bound. Both options offer a lightweight alternative for plein air painting and experiments in paint.