18x18 Elite Isola O/P Heavy Linen 1-1/2" Deep #EI-1818

True 1:1 Square Proportion - 18x18 Size

The 18x18 square size is a little less common but gaining in popularity.

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 • 19x19 • 20x20 • 21x21 • 22x22 • 23x23 • 24x24 • 25x25 • 26x26 • 27x27 • 28x28 • 29x29 • 30x30 • 31x31 • 32x32 • 33x33 • 34x34 • 35x35 • 36x36 • 37x37 • 38x38 • 39x39 • 40x40 • 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 18x18 Size:

• Oil Primed Linen Elite™: Poitiers™
• Oil Primed Linen Monet Pro™: Malibu™ • Vintage L21C™ • Ventura™ • Versailles™
• Acrylic Primed Linen Elite™: Grenoble™ • Pau™
• Acrylic Primed Linen Monet Pro™: Muir™ • Vintage L22U™ • Santa Cruz™ • Saint-Cloud™
• Acrylic Primed Cotton Elite™: Shasta™
• 3D™ Pro 2.5

Isola™ Heavy Weight Oil Primed Artfix Linen

Our heaviest weight oil primed linen canvas. Great for large and small works with a very heavy body, yet has a refreshing medium surface tooth.

• 100% Belgian Linen 8.6 oz; Primed Weight 14.1 oz per square yard
• Heavy Weight, Dense Weave, Medium Texture
• Double Sized and Double Primed with acid-free archival quality oil primed ground
• Impenetrable ground prevents oil paint from leaching through and harming the canvas
• For oils, alkyds, and water miscible oil paints
• Linen has natural oils that prevent disintegration over time

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.

Oil paint on an oil primed canvas improves your results

Using an oil prepared canvas for oil painting can produce superior results because the paint and ground are organically similar and create an ideal "chemical bond" where the paint sinks into the ground resulting in a smoother and more even finish. The resulting bond between the paint and canvas is stronger, making the artwork more durable and long-lasting. Additionally, the melding of the two oil-based materials creates an effect called luminosity, where the colors appear to glow from within, and thereby enhances the vibrancy and brightness of the colors, impacting the way light reflects off the colors.

Flash an Oil Prepared Canvas with Mineral Spirits

While it is not required, for best results, lightly wipe or flash the oil prepared canvas with mineral spirits before painting to make sure that your surface is completely clean of any dust or contaminants before painting.

18x18 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 Forests - A Precious Natural Resource

The air that we breathe depends upon our healthy forests the world over. For this reason, we only use lumber from the sustainable forests of the Pacific Northwest, so we can guarantee that our nation's precious natural timber resources are available for future generations.

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

The canvas you select becomes the foundation of your painting and will forever be, so choose your substrates wisely. Savvy art buyers and art enthusiasts place a higher value on artwork made with quality materials because they expect their investment in your art will be a lasting testament to your brand and legacy.

To be a good painter, you need patience, understanding, and especially passion. ♦ Peter Paul Rubens

A master of the Baroque art movement, Peter Paul Rubens lived a life distinguished by not only his immense talent but also his fervor for art and knowledge. His works, teeming with vibrancy and life, are testaments to his belief in these three virtues. Rubens' understanding was not just limited to artistic techniques; it extended to the human condition, which he explored through a rich tapestry of historical, religious, and mythological subjects.

Artists often face challenges and roadblocks, and it is patience that sees us through those trying times. Understanding, on the other hand, allows us to connect deeply with our subjects, evoking emotions that breathe life into our creations. But it is passion, as Rubens so rightly emphasized, that is the driving force behind every brushstroke, every color choice, and every vision brought to life on canvas. As we navigate our artistic paths, let us harness these virtues, letting them guide and inspire every masterpiece we conceive.

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We hope you will be inspired by the wisdom, and our interpretation thereof, of Peter Paul Rubens, plus we made this unique little portrait to begin the creative process. Time to start your creative process!