40x40 Elite Professional Shasta Deluxe Cotton 1-1/2" Deep #EH-4040

True 1:1 Square Proportion - 40x40 Size

40x40 is one of our most desirable square sizes.

The square is perhaps the most intriguing proportion, as it is root of all of the other proportions. It is commonly used in both photography and art. Squares are typically used as the center canvas of a triptych or as a single canvas hung at a 45° angle. The square proportion is long used with medium format professional cameras, and most photographs we see on websites and social media are based on square images. Since all sides of the canvas are the same length, your eye is drawn evenly across the surface of the painting creating a sense of harmony, balance, and a generally a pleasing visual experience. The square format is also a good choice for artists who focus on geometric shapes or patterns in their work, as the regularity of the square shape can help reinforce these elements. Some artists enjoy the challenge of working within the confines of a square format, as it forces them to think creatively resulting in intriguing compositions.

Explore other sizes in this same 1:1 aspect ratio:

11x11 • 12x12 • 13x13 • 14x14 • 15x15 • 16x16 • 17x17 • 18x18 • 19x19 • 20x20 • 21x21 • 22x22 • 23x23 • 24x24 • 25x25 • 26x26 • 27x27 • 28x28 • 29x29 • 30x30 • 31x31 • 32x32 • 33x33 • 34x34 • 35x35 • 36x36 • 37x37 • 38x38 • 39x39 • 41x41 • 42x42 • 43x43 • 44x44 • 45x45 • 46x46 • 47x47 • 48x48 • 49x49 • 50x50 • 51x51 • 52x52 • 53x53 • 54x54 • 55x55 • 56x56 • 57x57 • 58x58 • 59x59 • 60x60 • 61x61 • 62x62 • 63x63 • 64x64 • 65x65 • 66x66 • 67x67 • 68x68 • 69x69 • 70x70 • 71x71 • 72x72 • 73x73 • 74x74 • 75x75 • 76x76 • 77x77 • 78x78

Explore Related Products to this 40x40 Size:

• Acrylic Primed Linen Elite™: Grenoble™ • Pau™
• Oil Primed Linen Elite™: Isola™ • Poitiers™
• Acrylic Primed Cotton Monet Pro™: Monterey™ • Carmel™ • Tahoe™ • Heavy Weight 14oz cotton • Sierra™
• Oil Primed Linen Monet Pro™: Malibu™ • Vintage L21C™ • Ventura™ • Versailles™
• 3D™ Pro 2.5 • 3D™ Pro 3.5

Vegan Ground:

There are no animal products that make-up the sizing and the primer for this fine canvas. Historically, traditional canvas grounds have included egg tempura, pigments with cow urine, and of course, rabbit skin glue. In today's rapidly advancing world, there are many more choices available for artists who prefer non-animal based products that perform far better than their animal-based predecessors.

Shasta™ 20 oz Acrylic Primed Cotton

Deluxe Heavy Weight Cotton. Super strong yet has a medium supple feel.

• 100% Cotton 14.5 oz; Primed Weight 20 oz per square yard
• Extra Heavy Weight, Strong Weave, Medium Texture
• Sized and Triple Primed with acid-free archival quality acrylic gesso
• Impenetrable ground prevents oil paint from leaching through and harming the canvas
• For acrylics, oils, alkyds, and water miscible oil paints

Titanium Dioxide (TiO₂) Primer Pigment

Our primer is made with the highest-quality Titanium Dioxide white pigment, which is an excellent pigment for acrylic primed grounds, providing superior whiteness and maintaining excellent flexibility over time. Unlike some other common pigments, such as zinc dioxide, TiO₂ doesn't become brittle as it ages, helping to ensure that your painting will stand the test of time.

40x40 Frame Kit B2 Super Heavy Frame Offers the Ultimate Canvas Support!

• Drawing depicts the exact frame construction, not the proportion
• Precision Machined keyable Super Strong Stretcher Bars (1.5" deep by 2-1/4" wide) allow you to increase the canvas tension
• Super Strong Keyable Brace (3/4" x 3.25") and a regular Cross Brace Included
• The Bars have a clever utility groove on the inside perimeter of the frame to attach the cross braces
• Unique Keyable Cross Braces allow you to tension the canvas in the middle, where it's needed the most
• Cross braces are glued and stapled at the 'cross' for maximum support and rigidity
• Both corner keys and brace keys are pre-installed

Elite™ Professional 1.5" Deep B2 Bar • 1/2" Canvas Clearance

A Canvas Clearance of 1/2" 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.

No Finger Joints!

Solid Wood is far superior to finger jointed wood, which is many small pieces glued together, each with varying grain densities that absorb and shed moisture at varying rates, expanding and contracting non-uniformly as environmental conditions change, and causing the wood to bow and the finger joints to eventually fail.

A single homogeneous kiln-dried solid wood Stretcher Bar outperforms and outlasts a finger jointed Bar whose sole purpose is to save the manufacturer cost, not contribute to the archival value of artwork intended to last a millennium. As a manufacturer, Masterpiece® does its part to conserve as much wood as possible, and still provide a quality product that will out-perform any other in the marketplace.

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 we stretch a canvas 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.

Sustainable Environment Promotes a Sustainable Economy

The use of lumber from sustainably managed forests is not only environmentally responsible, it also helps to support the economy and preserve jobs in the forestry industry. By choosing products made with sustainably sourced lumber, consumers can help to ensure that these industries remain strong and sustainable for years 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.

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 Elite™ 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

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

Tight'n'Up™ Liquid Canvas Retensioner

While all of our Masterpiece® Pro canvases are stretched very tightly and our frames have a built-in method to increase tension, we have another method to add canvas tension. Tight'n'Up™ Liquid Canvas Retensioner (sold separately) can be sprayed on the back of a canvas to repair most canvas tension issues.

With Tight'n'Up™, you can add tension to just a small area, or a large area. Simply spray it lightly on the back and brush it into the canvas, and within seconds, your canvas becomes tighter and stays tighter. The more you use, the tighter it gets.

Our quest at Masterpiece® is clear: deliver unmatched excellence. This dedication has positioned us as the nation's beacon of quality in the world of professional fine-art canvases. Delve into our curated selection of surfaces and roll sizes, each promising perfection for your artistic endeavors.

Art is never finished, only abandoned. ♦ Leonardo da Vinci

Leonardo da Vinci, an icon of the Renaissance, remains a touchstone for the confluence of art and science. His notebooks, filled with sketches, ideas, and innovations, paint a vivid portrait of a mind that was perpetually inquisitive and restless. From the intricate layers of the Mona Lisa to the detailed studies of human anatomy, Leonardo's works demonstrate a relentless pursuit of perfection and an insatiable curiosity. Yet, his assertion that art is never truly finished reveals an intimate understanding of the artistic process and the ever-evolving nature of creativity.

We often find ourselves revisiting our pieces, seeing new avenues for expression or minute details that beg adjustment. It is a testament to our commitment and the evolving nature of our perspectives. With each day, experience, and emotion, our understanding and interpretation of our subjects shift. In embracing Leonardo's words, we are reminded that our art is a living, breathing entity, evolving with us. The challenge then is not in achieving perfection but in recognizing when to let go, trusting that our work has captured a moment in our ever-changing journey.

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We are innately drawn to the act of creation. We've channeled this drive to curate this inspiring quote and contex along with our own portrait we created of Leonardo da Vinci..our tribute to the timeless dance of creativity. Go paint!