21x21 Elite Pau A/P Portrait Linen 1-1/2" Deep #EP-2121

True 1:1 Square Proportion - 21x21 Size

This 21x21 size an intriguing and atypical small size odd square.

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 • 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 21x21 Size:

• Acrylic Primed Linen Elite™: Grenoble™
• Oil Primed Linen Elite™: Isola™ • Poitiers™

Pau™ Portriat Smooth Acrylic Primed Artfix Linen

Our smoothest acrylic primed linen canvas. It is a heavy weight linen with a luxurious heavy white ground. It has a bright white tone.

• 100% Belgian Linen 6.1 oz; Primed Weight 14.0 oz per square yard
• Medium Heavy Weight, Fine Weave, Portrait Smooth Texture
• Double Sized and Quadruple 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
• 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.

Pau™ Portrait Smooth Belgian Linen offers a luxurious surface, ideal for highly detailed work. Preferred by portrait artists because it is so smooth for linen. Due to the nature of how flax plants are turned into linen textiles, there may be variations in yarn thickness thereby creating fabric that is individual in nature and has character. There can be infrequent naturally occurring nubs in the linen which may yield small slight bumps where the linen is a little thicker than the rest of the strand. This is normal and part of what gives linen its character.

21x21 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.

Finger Jointed Wood is not meant for Stretcher Bars

Solid wood makes the most dependable Stretcher Bar, because one homogeneous wood member is going to behave similarly across the entire length of the Bar. Whereas, with finger-jointed wood is made-up of multiple pieces of wood, sometimes on the actual joint itself, presenting multiple points of failure which no one can control.

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 add or reduce value to your final painting. The fact is, you don't want problems, and finger joints only increase that risk of the wood falling apart in the future.

The glue used to bind finger joints is a water based adhesive and when that wood is exposed to high humidity environments, particularly with exterior walls, the glue joints can give-up. 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

Our wood is handpicked from a curated group of environmentally responsible lumber mills in the Pacific Northwest. By adhering to our precise drying and heat-treatment standards, these mills produce lumber with nearly half the moisture you'd find in common home improvement outlets or lumber yards. This meticulous process not only enhances the wood's strengthÑminimizing risks of cracks, splits, or bendsÑbut also elevates its dimensional stability. Such quality, despite its premium, is paramount in creating professional canvases designed to uphold the sanctity of your cherished art throughout the years.

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 passion at Masterpiece® is to deliver the highest quality canvases that can be made. We are widely recognized as the nation's leader and trendsetter of professional quality fine-art canvas. We own several patents that make our products perform superior to any other on the market, but our craftsmanship and consistency is part of what makes-up our brand. Simply touch one of our fine canvases, and you will easily discern our impeccable quality, and so will your clients and the enthusiasts who will eventually acquire your art.

Rest is the sweet sauce of labor. ♦ Plutarch

Embedded within Plutarch's wisdom is a timeless truth that transcends centuries, cultures, and professions. A historian and essayist of Greco-Roman antiquity, he meticulously observed the workings of human endeavors, both grand and mundane. While he documented the vast achievements of emperors and generals, he never overlooked the simple joys and necessities that shape the human experience.

Labor is more than just physical exertion; it's an emotional, mental, and spiritual investment in each creation. The intense focus, the meticulous attention to detail, the passionate pursuit of expression - all these demand a toll. Yet, just as a dish is enhanced by the right sauce, our work flourishes when balanced with rest. We find that in moments of pause, our creativity is recharged, ideas flow more freely, and our perspectives shift, leading to richer and more profound creations. Plutarch's words are a gentle reminder that in our dedication to art, it's essential to savor the stillness and rejuvenate ourselves, ensuring that our work remains as vibrant and passionate as ever.

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Creativity, the silent force beckoning you, finds its voice here. Harmonize your artistic process with these indelible words and meaning by Plutarch, and with our unique portrayal of a self portrait to inspire an enhanced melody in your art. Go make your music on canvas!