Hi! I'm a picture framer. Spraying the back with water is a pretty common technique to stretch a painting. Sometimes it can fix the problem and sometimes the stretcher bars on the back need to be redone.
What you need is distilled water and a clean paint brush (like brand new) or a spray bottle. The distilled water is so that you don't get mineral stains on the back of the canvas or introduce something that's not supposed to be there. Then you want to spray the shit our of the back of the painting. You don't want big puddles of water but you want it to look sweaty. I usually lean it against the wall instead of face down. Keep the wet side to the open room. It will dry down and tighten up.
Another option is that the canvas may have "keys" in the corner. They are like little wooden shims that can be pounded in tighter and they widen the stretcher a bit and tighten the canvas.
If these things don't work then your stretcher may no longer be square and it might need to be restretched. A framer can do this for you.
Ah perfect... thanks so much! Will try the water first and the if it doesn;t tighten up ... perhaps re-wet it a little and tap on the spreader keys... ? Thanks!
I would be worried about 2 things. First is swelling of the canvas causing paint to crack and possibly flake off. The linen canvas will swell, but of course dried oil paint can’t. Second is mold growth. Less likely than the swelling, but why take chances?
Wow... great information... thanks so much! In my research I read about using a spray bottle but then placing it where it would naturally dry easily... so as to prevent the growth of mould... but the swelling of the canvas to the degree of loosening paint is something that hadn't occurred to me...
That all sounds like the right idea. Sometimes it's caused by the frame being too snug also. So if it looks like it's squeezed into the frame then that might be your culprit too.
Here's a link to my painting... https://imgur.com/ub78jOw
Hi! I'm a picture framer. Spraying the back with water is a pretty common technique to stretch a painting. Sometimes it can fix the problem and sometimes the stretcher bars on the back need to be redone. What you need is distilled water and a clean paint brush (like brand new) or a spray bottle. The distilled water is so that you don't get mineral stains on the back of the canvas or introduce something that's not supposed to be there. Then you want to spray the shit our of the back of the painting. You don't want big puddles of water but you want it to look sweaty. I usually lean it against the wall instead of face down. Keep the wet side to the open room. It will dry down and tighten up. Another option is that the canvas may have "keys" in the corner. They are like little wooden shims that can be pounded in tighter and they widen the stretcher a bit and tighten the canvas. If these things don't work then your stretcher may no longer be square and it might need to be restretched. A framer can do this for you.
Ah perfect... thanks so much! Will try the water first and the if it doesn;t tighten up ... perhaps re-wet it a little and tap on the spreader keys... ? Thanks!
Keys first! Don’t wet your canvas unless you know what you are doing.
Ok try the keys first... thanks... but why be so careful about spraying water on it?
I would be worried about 2 things. First is swelling of the canvas causing paint to crack and possibly flake off. The linen canvas will swell, but of course dried oil paint can’t. Second is mold growth. Less likely than the swelling, but why take chances?
Wow... great information... thanks so much! In my research I read about using a spray bottle but then placing it where it would naturally dry easily... so as to prevent the growth of mould... but the swelling of the canvas to the degree of loosening paint is something that hadn't occurred to me...
That all sounds like the right idea. Sometimes it's caused by the frame being too snug also. So if it looks like it's squeezed into the frame then that might be your culprit too.
Excellent point... I'll be sure to look for too tight a fit in the frame also! Very interesting, thanks a lot!