56x56 Elite Poitiers O/P Portrait Linen 1-1/2" Deep #EQ-5656

True 1:1 Square Proportion - 56x56 Size

This 56x56 size an interesting and unique mid-range size 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 • 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 • 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 56x56 Size:

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

Poitiers™ Portrait Smooth Oil Primed Artfix Linen

Step into the world of masterful detail with this superb oil primed canvas, a top pick among portrait artists and connoisseurs of fine detail work.  Poitiers™ canvas offers an unparalleled smoothness due to the fine, tightly woven fabric and 6 painstaking layers of ground. Colors applied to the surface have a high degree of luminosity, bringing a radiant life to your oil paintings. The superior smooth surface is not just a pleasure to touch; it transforms your painting experience. Your brush glides effortlessly across the canvas ensuring that every brushstroke is precise, every color vibrant, and every detail distinct.

• 100% Belgian Linen 6.2 oz.; Primed Weight 16 oz. per square yard
• Meidum Weight, Fine Weave, Portrait Smooth Texture
• Double Sized and Quadruple 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

This primer contains premium-grade Titanium Dioxide (TiO₂) white pigment, renowned for its exceptional performance for oil priming. Its standout feature is its enduring whiteness, coupled with remarkable flexibility that persists over time. In contrast to other pigments such as zinc dioxide, Titanium Dioxide maintains its resilience, preventing brittleness as it ages. This quality ensures that artworks retain their integrity and will stand the test of time.

Artfix Poitiers™ 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.

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.

Lightly Wipe 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.

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.

56x56 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
• 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 Keyable Braces and Two Cross Braces Included (3/4" x 3.25")
• The Bars have a clever utility groove on the inside perimeter of the frame to attach the cross braces and Diamond 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

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

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.

Sustainability in our Forests and our Communities

At Masterpiece®, we believe in responsible and sustainable business practices. That's why we only use lumber from sustainably managed forests in our products. By doing so, we can help to protect our planet's forests, reduce our environmental impact, and support the communities that depend on these valuable resources.

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

Masterpiece® is a family-owned business operating in California since 1965 and producing the finest Stretcher Bars in North America. Our mission is to deliver the highest quality products that can be made, and 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. Once you touch one of our products, you will easily discern our impeccable quality, and so will your clients and the people who will eventually acquire your art.

Painting is so damned difficult; You always think you've got it, but you haven't. ♦ Paul Cézanne

Paul Cézanne, the father of modern art, often captured the underlying tensions and the volatile process of artistic creation with his words as masterfully as with his brush strokes. It's evident that he recognized the endless complexity and challenges inherent in the act of painting.

Cézanne's influence in the art world is indisputable. He transitioned from the world of Impressionism to Post-Impressionism, often blurring the lines between the two, aiming to depict the world in a more solid and structured manner. Yet, despite his genius and impact, he was plagued by self-doubt. The frustration, the doubt, the relentless pursuit of perfection — these are feelings known all too well by those of us who engage in artistic endeavors. Every stroke on the canvas, every hue mixed on the palette, is a decision, a moment of truth. We understand that elusive chase for perfection, and Cézanne's words echo the sentiments of our hearts. Art, in all its beauty, is a continuous process of learning, adapting, and growing. It's a humbling journey where the destination often feels just out of reach.

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The spirit of artistry is inspiration and creation. We too are inspired by the wisdom of this quote and hope you are inspired by our interpretation thereof, as well as this inimitable portrait we created of Paul Cézanne. Go create!