42x68 3D Pro Raw No 8 Canvas 2-1/2" #DRE-4268

True Golden Mean Proportion - 42x68 Size

This 42x68 size is one of our Golden Mean sizes, considered the most pleasing shape to the eye!

The Golden Ratio, also known as the Golden Mean or Divine Proportion, is considered the most aesthetically pleasing proportion to the human eye. This proportion has been used in art and architecture for thousands of years, and countless examples can be found in nature, plant life, galaxies, and the human body. The Golden Mean can also be used as a guide to arrange your subjects on the canvas in concert with other Golden Mean shapes like an ellipse, star, triangle, and spiral, resulting in intriguing compositions. Many famous artists, such as Michelangelo, Da Vinci, Mondrian, Botticelli, Dali, and Seurat, have used this proportion in their art, and many contemporary artists continue to use it exclusively. The Golden Ratio can even produce some mathematically intriguing relationships that relate directly to art, architecture, science, and human intrigue. If you're looking for a challenge and inspiration, consider using a canvas in the proportion of the Golden Mean to create a composition that will come alive in the most intriguing ways!

Explore other sizes in this same 34:21 aspect ratio:

7x11 • 10x16 • 12x19 • 15x24 • 16x26 • 18x29 • 20x32 • 23x37 • 26x42 • 28x45 • 30x48 • 31x50 • 33x53 • 36x58 • 37x60 • 39x63 • 46x74 • 47x76 • 50x81 • 52x84 • 60x96 • 60x97

Explore Related Products to this 42x68 Size:

• Raw Unprimed Cotton: Raw No 12 • Raw No 10
• Raw Unprimed Linen: Torrey Pines™ • Mandalay™
• Acrylic Primed Cotton: Monterey™ • Carmel™ • Tahoe™ • Heavy Weight 14oz cotton • Sierra™

Raw #8 Cotton 18 oz Unprimed

Super heavy weight unprimed canvas. Take control of your art, prepare your own ground, or use bare canvas expanses as part of the art. Great for staining or pouring, resulting in a fluid and spontaneous convergence of the image and fabric.

• 100% Cotton 18 oz. per square yard
• Super Heavy Weight, Dense Weave, Robust Texture

3D™ Pro 2.5 Stretcher Bar • 1/2" Canvas Clearance

1/2" Canvas Clearance is the space between the Bar and the canvas. Generally speaking, more clearance reduces the risk of the canvas touching the wood and creating unsightly lines during painting. Our design provides the optimal clearance so as not to impact your painting, but still leaving enough wood to the maximize strength of the Stretcher Bar.

• Produces a 2.5" deep stretched canvas (Actual depth is slightly thinner)
• 1.25" wide Stretcher Bar
• All Bars have an exclusive groove on the inside perimeter of the frame to which cross braces and Diamond Corner Braces attach
• Solid Ponderosa Pine or Fir from the Pacific Northwest

Solid Wood is Archival - Finger Jointed Wood is Not

We only use Solid Wood to build our Stretcher Bars because a solid piece of wood will last indefinitely. When we speak of archival value, it's not just the paint you use and the quality of your canvas and ground, even the wood choices manufacturers make are part of the archival process.

The principal reason manufactures use finger jointed wood is reduce cost, not increase archival value. Wood constantly grows and shrinks when the environment becomes hotter, or colder, or more humid, or more dry. Because finger jointed wood is made-up of multiple and varied pieces of wood, with varying grain patterns and densities, they each absorb and shed moisture at varying rates, which works on the glue joints that hold them together, causing the wood to bow and the joints to eventually fail, and certainly not consistent with increasing the archival value of your artwork frame support.

As a manufacturer, we do our part to conserve as much wood as possible, and still provide a quality made product that will out-perform any other in the marketplace.

42x68 2.5" Deep Edge Heavy Frame Offers Maximum Support!

• Drawing depicts the exact frame construction, not the proportion
• 2.5" Deep Edge K2 Heavy Stretcher Bars are precision machined with a unique double tongue-and-groove corner joint that provides rock-solid torsional rigidity that resists warping or twisting, which is an important benefit for such a deep edge canvas
• Each corner has a diagonal oriented Diamond Brace that interlocks with the Stretcher Bars and superior support and rigidity to help keep the frame square
• Two super strong 3/4" thick keyable braces and two cross braces (all 3.25" wide) provide the maximum possible support for this 42x68 frame; Cross Braces are permanently installed in the frame, but canvas tension may be increased by tapping-in the keys or wedges that slightly expand the size of the frame
• The Stretcher Bars have an proprietary utility groove on the inside perimeter of the frame which is used to attach braces and other optional frame supports
• The Masterpiece braces feature an exclusive system that allows you to increase the tension to the middle of the frame, where the tension is needed the most; it's so unique it earned us a patent
• Our state-of-the-art cross braces attach the ends of the cross braces into the (grooved) sides of the braces, which creates a superior and robust system of interlocking cross braces
• To increase canvas tension: 1) remove any staples in the corners and those that retain the brace keys in the middle, 2) tap all of the expansion keys further into their respective slots, 3) tighten and re-staple the canvas in the corners

Canvas Tension is in Your Control

In dry climates or air conditioned environments, the lack of moisture in the air causes wood frames to shrink and the canvas fibers to narrow and elongate making the canvas more slack and resulting in a loss of canvas tension. In some instances, the canvas could have waves on the surface resulting in an unsightly viewing experience.

Our 3D™ Pro 2.5 professional frames provide the functionality for you to slightly expand the size of the frame in the corners and the middle of the canvas, thereby increasing canvas tension all across the surface. The difference between a loose canvas and a tight canvas is just 1/8" of an inch, so a small adjustment using our corner and brace keys makes an important difference in canvas tension.

• Helps to prevent waves that occur in a loose canvas
• Increase canvas tension by tapping-in the corner and brace keys
• True professional class canvases make it possible for you to adjust the canvas tension

Cross Braces Make it Tighter

A tightly stretched canvas on an un-braced frame overpowers the Stretcher Bars causing them to bow inward and thereby lose tension. Sometimes that bow can expose a space in picture frames.

When a canvas is stretched on a properly supported frame, the cross-braces prevent the Bars from bowing thereby achieving maximum canvas tension. To increase the canvas tension even more, simply tap the corner and brace keys further in their slots. Properly supported frames provide you with the control over the canvas tension of your canvas and painting.

Forests need People, and People Need Forests

Using lumber from sustainably managed forests is a way to support the health and well-being of our planet and its inhabitants. By choosing products made with sustainably sourced lumber, we can help to protect the environment, support local communities, and ensure a sustainable future for generations to come.

Specially Dried and Heat Treated Lumber

We source our wood from a select group of top-tier environmentally conscious lumber mills in the Pacific Northwest. These mills specially dry and heat-treat the lumber to our specifications, resulting in about half the moisture content compared to wood from typical home improvement centers or lumber yards. This process makes the wood stronger, reducing the likelihood of cracking, splitting, or warping. While the wood we use comes at a higher cost, it ensures a more dimensionally stable end product. This stability is crucial for crafting fine professional canvases that support your invaluable art over time.

MuseumWrap™ Stretching Technique

With more than a half a century of American engineering, Masterpiece® designs and builds its own proprietary stretching equipment that enables us to produce the finest and most tightly-stretched canvas on the market.

• Drum-tight stretch!
• Up to 50% tighter than other methods
• Balanced tension across the surface
• Uncut folded corners make it possible to remove and re-stretch canvas on the same size frame
• Usually the corner folds are on the long sides

Requires Truck Delivery

This size will be shipped on an LTL freight truck, which is safe and reliable. Our shipping cost estimator cannot possibly contemplate all the cost factors with truck shipments, so once you place your order and before we do anything, we will review and inform you if your actual cost is higher or lower. Ordering larger quantities usually does not increase the freight cost, so you get a better value by ordering larger quantities.

Conditions that impact cost are extra large products, or if your delivery address is out-of-the-way, or in a school, university, church, hotel, shopping mall, or farm. Shipping to a business address lowers cost. Contact us with any questions.

The trucking company will contact you by phone, and arrange a 4 hour window for delivery, so be sure to pick-up strange numbers during the time of delivery. Someone must be present to receive and sign for this delivery; they will not just leave it at your door. We rarely have issues, but if you notice a problem, please document it on the delivery receipt before you sign it, and take photos.

The canvas you choose is the foundation for your painting, but also serves as symbol of the quality that you as an artist stand for, and reflect on your own brand. Masterpiece® serves as your silent partner to create your next masterpiece. You "wow" them from the front, while we "wow" them from behind.

Why has God given me such magnificent talent? It is a curse as well as a great blessing. ♦ Albrecht Dürer

Albrecht Dürer, one of the most pivotal figures of the Northern Renaissance, stood at the crossroads of artistry and introspection. His detailed woodcuts and masterful engravings not only set new standards in printmaking but also conveyed deep emotional introspection and a quest for understanding one's place in the world. With his immense talent, Dürer often pondered the weight of responsibility and the dual nature of genius.

Such sentiments are not unfamiliar to many artists. With every brushstroke or chisel mark, we too feel the tug-of-war between the joy of creation and the burden of expectation. Talent, in all its brilliance, brings with it the challenges of self-doubt, the pressures of innovation, and the inevitable periods of stagnation. Yet, it's in these very struggles that we often find our most profound expressions and deepest connections to our craft. It reminds us that, in art, contrasts often coexist — light and shadow, joy and sorrow, curse and blessing — and it's in this delicate balance that beauty often emerges.

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With a nod to Albrecht Dürer, we present these words of wisdom and our own custom crafted portrait. Let this fusion stoke your creative fires. Dive into your art!