Prepping for Renoir's "Luncheon of the Boating Party"

Last week, I started my next commission, a reproduction of Renoir's "Luncheon of the Boating Party."  As with all my commissions, I built the frame from the best quality wood and cotton, making it much better quality than you could find pre-made in stores.  However, the challenge in making this canvas was its size, 31" x 42".  Whenever a canvas is larger than 36" in one direction, you need to reinforce the frame with cross bars to prevent warping.  I had never made a canvas this big before, and I had never used cross bars either.

Back of canvas with cross bars

When I ordered the cross bars from Dick Blick, the picture showed the bars fitting together at a notch.  What I didn't realize was that I had to make the notch myself.  Thursday I went to my local hardware store to get the notch made, but they couldn't do it.  They recommended a cabinet maker next door, but I couldn't find the entrance to the building.  Instead, I just wandered around an empty parking lot next to a falling down warehouse with two pieces of wood in my hand like I was in some horror film or French surrealist movie.  After giving up on the cabinet maker, I went to Lowe's.  They told me they couldn't make the cut, but they could sell me a jigsaw.  I bought the saw and made the notches.  Then I screwed the cross bars into the frame.

Oh yeah, that's my notch!

Attaching the cross bars to the frame

After I built the support for the canvas and stretched the cotton over the frame, I covered the canvas with gesso, a fabric sealant.  What gesso does is it prevents moisture in the atmosphere from getting into the canvas and rotting the fabric.  Most canvases you buy in stores are only gessoed on the front, which will not prevent moisture from getting in the back, but I build my canvases to last, so I always gesso the front, back, and sides...twice.  Is it time consuming?  Oh yes.  But is in worth it?  You bet!

Gessoing the back of the canvas

Gessoing the front of the canvas

The finished front

The finished back

Tools of the trade, including my new jigsaw

Once all the prep work was done, I could finally get started on the actual painting part.  Today I worked on the underpainting, and I am so pleased with the way it came out!  It already looks like the Renoir's painting.  I can tell I am going to have fun with this one.