68x85 Monet Pro Vintage L22U Canvas 1-1/2" Deep #MU-6885

True 5:4 Photography Proportion - 68x85 Size

This magnificent and uncommon 68x85 size makes a bold statement and it feels quite familiar being in the very common 5:4 aspect ratio.

The 5:4 aspect ratio is common to both art and portrait photography, as it creates a visually pleasing format for the human figure and face. The balanced compositional format can help to create a sense of symmetry and harmony in your artwork. The 5:4 ratio has a familiar "feel", as it was commonly used in early computer monitors. Additionally, you might consider trying some relatively unknown sizes in this same proportion that we call Lost Sizes As an artist, you get the best of both worlds, because you still get to use the same aesthetically appealing 5:4 format and use rare or novel sizes that help make your art stand-out.

Explore other sizes in this same 5:4 aspect ratio:

4x5 • 8x10 • 12x15 • 16x20 • 20x25 • 24x30 • 28x35 • 32x40 • 36x45 • 40x50 • 44x55 • 48x60 • 52x65 • 56x70 • 60x75 • 64x80 • 72x90 • 76x95

Explore Related Products to this 68x85 Size:

• Acrylic Primed Linen: Muir™ • Santa Cruz™ • Grenoble™ • Pau™
• Acrylic Primed Cotton: Monterey™ • Carmel™ • Heavy Weight 14oz cotton • Sierra™ • Shasta™
• Alkyd / Oil Primed Linen: Malibu™ • Vintage L21C™ • Ventura™ • Versailles™ • Isola™ • Poitiers™
• 3D™ Pro 2.5

Vintage™ L22U Acrylic Primed Artfix Linen

Delightful hand-primed medium tooth linen with a medium tooth and texture.

• 100% Belgian Linen 5 oz.; Primed Weight 12 oz. per square yard
• Medium Weight, Open Weave, Medium Texture
• Double Sized and Double 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

This primer contains premium-grade Titanium Dioxide (TiO₂) white pigment, renowned for its exceptional performance in acrylic 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.

Monet™ Pro 1.5" Deep B2 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.

• Super strong B2™ Stretcher Bar upgrade is 50% stronger
• For this 68x85 large size frame, this upgrade adds more strength and stability
• Produces a 1.5" deep stretched canvas
• 2-1/4" 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

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.

68x85 Monet Pro Super Heavy Frame with Steel Corners Provides the Ultimate Support!

• Drawing depicts the exact frame construction, not the proportion
• Extra Heavy 2-1/4" wide Stretcher Bars, 1.5" deep - 50% stronger than our normal Bars they provide vastly superior frame strength needed for this large 68x85 size
• Each corner has a 1/4" thick triangular steel plate and a diagonal oriented Diamond Brace that interlocks with the Stretcher Bars and provides maximum support and rigidity to help keep the frame square and flat for this large 68x85 size
• Three super strong 3/4" thick keyable braces and three cross braces (all 3.25" wide) provide the maximum possible support for this 68x85 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 Monet™ Pro 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

Steel Corners and Diamond Braces Increase Rigidity for this 68x85 Size

For our larger size Monet Pro frames, like this 68x85 size, we use 1/4" painted steel and diagonal Diamond wood braces for unprecedented frame rigidity and strength. The triangular steel plates are inserted into the groove on the inside perimeter of the Stretcher Bar and improve torsional strength to help keep the frame flat.

The diagonal Diamond wood braces lock the corners and the steel plate in place and help keep the frame square. Together, these two features contribute to producing the finest and strongest 1.5" deep canvas on the market.

Incidentally, this feature is not offered for our 3D Pro™ Canvases because it is simply not required for the double tongue-and-groove corner joints of 3D Pro™ that provide adequate torsional strength for those 2.5" and 3.5" deep frames.

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.

Sustainable Forests Ensure More Wood for Communities

Using lumber from sustainably managed forests is not only the responsible thing to do, it's also a way to ensure that the wood products we rely on continue to be available in the future. By supporting sustainable forestry practices, we can help to ensure a steady supply of wood products while also protecting the environment and supporting local communities.

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

For over half a century, Masterpiece® has been synonymous with top-tier artist canvases in North America. A canvas isn't just fabric; it's an invitation to create, to turn raw talent into timeless art. Choose wisely, for your art's endurance reflects your legacy and brand distinction.

In the brush stroke, we should find the emotion of life. ♦ Robert Delaunay

The brilliance of Robert Delaunay's career was distinguished by his innate ability to breathe life into his creations. He believed that each brush stroke, every dab of paint, should be infused with vitality and emotion. It wasn't just about the visual aspect; it was about the soul and essence captured in that fleeting movement of the brush.

When we approach our canvas, it's easy to get lost in technique, forgetting the deeper meaning behind our actions. Yet, Delaunay's insight serves as a reminder that, as artists, every decision we make, every color we choose, and every line we draw should be imbued with intention and emotion. It's this emotion that connects us to our audience, allowing them to feel, even if just for a moment, the passion and heart we pour into our work.

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

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.