How Do I Tone My Canvas?
Toning a canvas is a very simple process to make sure that you get paint into all the weave of your canvas.
I absolutely tone all my stretched canvases, but I also tone my masonite and/or other boards. Toning the canvas has several reasons.
- Smooth out the surface
- Get paint into every part of the weave of the fabric so no white shows through
- Gives a very smooth surface a little bit to tooth
A fabric canvas has tooth and you can tone it with several coats of gesso to smooth it out a little and if you use a colored gesso, you will get the benefit of covering up all the white.
A masonite or other wood board is extremely smooth and sometimes a little tooth or roughness is needed. You will achieve that tooth by toning your board and you’ll give a background color also.
Painting on a plain white canvas has a problem many artists struggle with. Every once in a while a tiny piece of the white canvas might show through where you didn’t get enough paint in a particular place. Because it’s white, your eye goes straight to it. If you tone your canvas with gray, light green or blue or terracotta, no one will notice that if it shows through in a tiny speck. But that same speck in white is like a Neo sign saying, “Missed a spot”.
Watch the video to see how it’s done.
Thank you for tuning in today and I hope this helps explain about toning a canvas.
This blog is especially for beginning painters in an effort to get your off on the right foot. Check out all the other posts with loads of information just for you.
You can also take a free class here on my website.