Behind the Scenes

Lesley in Provence

Lots of you are curious about the steps involved in painting abroad and getting those paintings back home to the States. Especially when one paints larger paintings, or lots of them: How do you get them all safely home, and ready to hang?

When I embark, I take my blank canvas (mostly Belgian linen) rolled up in a sturdy mailing tube. Having long rolls of canvas allows me to select any size for any particular subject. That provides much more flexibility than painting on pre-cut panels! I also take a piece of plywood, as large as will fit in my suitcase, to tape the canvas on, thus providing a sturdy support for painting.

Canvas clipped to board...

Usually I quit painting a few days before returning home, so the paintings have time to dry. Then I roll the finished paintings back up--painted surface facing outward--and put them
back in the mailing tube. If a painting is still wet or tacky, I put wax paper between it and the others, which usually keeps the paint intact.

The hard work begins when I get home. I put all the paintings up on my studio walls, and study them over time to decide which ones are keepers, which ones need further work in the studio, and which ones are destined for the dustbin or the closet. The keepers then need to be mounted on board, or stretched on stretcher bars. It's often surprising which ones turn out to be my favorites. There are definitely "sleepers" that didn't strike me as very strong when I first painted them, but which come to the forefront after I get home.

Both mounting paintings and stretching them can be very tedious work. It's important to get the images perfectly level on the support, or else looking at it makes you feel very off-balance. More than once I have had to re-stretch a painting because the first effort was slightly out of plumb. Stretching is a two-man job. That's my husband pulling the canvas with canvas pliers, while I use the staple gun to secure it. Those are the loose stretcher bars on the left.

Et Voila! By the time the painting is finally ready to go to the framer, I have spent so much time with it that it's no wonder I call it one of my "babies"!  You can see some of the latest "babies" by clicking here. Enjoy!