In Reply to: JBR 6 posted by kerryf on Wednesday, 7. May 2008 at 08:47 Bali Time:
Kerry ,I am an artist myself and also bought a large canvas last year.To have it professionally stretched is very expensive,approx $200.There is nothing you can do about the cracks in the paint (hopefully it adds to the effect!) But, if you do it your self it's not too hard.
*find a blank canvas the same size as your painting (measure the front painted area)from a cheap shop like Red spot?crazy clarkes.
*get yourself a staple gun and a water bottle
*LIGHLY spray the BACK of your painting,with water,this will let the canvas be stretched easily and contract when it dries leaving less chance of rippling.
*place your painting over the blank canvas (make sure you remove plastic!)and stretch it stappling as you go.
*taking care to neatly fold corners in and centre the painted edges to the canvas edges.
Hope this helps!