I prepare my own lead-based grounds, and I am careful to ensure my painting medium is very drying. I want my surfaces to be TOUGH, capable of supporting numerous overpaintings. So when I use painter’s tape to make a straight line over dried paint, I almost never have problems. But it’s happened with my unfinished paint, “Bella.” (For the sake of scale, “Bella” is 42″ x 54″.) The red lines in the photo point to areas where the tape lifted off the underlying paint. Yeech!
What you see here are tests to determine the extent of the problem. I’ve used several painter’s tapes, including special “artist tapes” that are intended for delicate surfaces. All failed. Normally, I can freely use painter’s tape a day after applying oil paint.
Here are close-ups of the problem. My guess for now is that something got onto the canvas surface or into the material I used for the ground. According to the notes in my studio book, I followed my usual procedure for “Bella.”
I prepared this canvas in November 2023 and let it cure before starting the painting. The only unusual thing about it is that I built the stretcher support myself. I used to purchase the stretchers ready-made, but with the steep rise in art supply prices, I’ve reverted to building the stretchers myself. My normal working size is 40″ x 54″, which eats a lot of wood. Anyway, that wouldn’t have affected this painting.
I haven’t identified the problem yet. I’ll let you know if I solve the mystery.
[Yes, I know that sharing images of unfinished artwork is a bad idea. But one of the reasons for this site is teaching.]
