Art Canvas Stretching Problems

 Hi there, I hope your year is going okay so far.  My year hasn't been very eventful which is a good thing.  As you can see I have started a new painting which is bigger than my last painting.  It's 40 x 30 inches.  I am about half way through.  As with the previous painting I stretched this canvas myself.  I was worried after I made it that the canvas was not taut enough on the frame and it turned out that I was right.  You can probably see all the detail in the middle of the sunflower, I used Acrylograph pens for that.  This meant that I was pressing against the canvas a lot and consequently the canvas has loosened and become slightly slack.

I don't know if you can see but the bottom right of the canvas is slightly buckled, as is further up where the sunflower is. I know of tricks to tighten the canvas, like spraying the back with hot water; drying with a hair dryer and I read about a product you can buy to spray on the back of the canvas.  I also know to use wood keys in each corner which I have in the past.  

I have decided the best decision is, once I have finished the painting I will pull out some staples on maybe three sides and restretch the canvas.  I don't think it is necessary to pull the whole canvas off and stretch from scratch again because it is not very loose.  I am hoping this will work.  I had trouble stretching this canvas because it is so big and I couldn't tell very well if I was pulling the canvas tight enough.  Also because I am not experienced at canvas stretching I always worry about damaging the fabric.  I did do a canvas stretching workshop many years ago so I have a basic knowledge of canvas stretching but I just need more practice.

The canvas I am using is Fredrix Cherokee Polyester Cotton Canvas, which feels very good quality and thickness compared to cheaper, readymade canvases.  It is much nicer to work on.  The stretcher bars are Art Spectrum stretcher bars which are very solid and good quality, I think they are the heavy duty ones.

So that was my canvas drama!  I will post with an update when I have finished or at least once I have stretched the canvas again to show you.

Goodbye for now and have a great day!