18x18 Vincent Pro Mono Lake Canvas 7/8 Inch Deep #VML-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:

4x4 • 5x5 • 6x6 • 7x7 • 8x8 • 9x9 • 10x10 • 12x12 • 14x14 • 16x16 • 20x20 • 24x24 • 30x30 • 32x32 • 36x36 • 40x40 • 22x22 • 34x34

Explore Related Products to this 18x18 Size:

• Raw Unprimed Linen: Torrey Pines™ • Mandalay™
• Raw Unprimed Cotton: Raw No 12
• Acrylic / Oil Primed Linen: Muir™ • Vintage L22U™ • Santa Cruz™ • Saint-Cloud™ • Grenoble™ • Pau™ • Malibu™ • Vintage L21C™ • Ventura™ • Versailles™
• Acrylic Primed Cotton: Monterey™ • Carmel™ • Tahoe™ • Heavy Weight 14oz cotton • Sierra™
• Monet™ Pro 1.5

Raw Mono Lake™ Belgian Linen 6.9 oz Unprimed

Fine, supple, delightful linen will produce a more medium-smooth surface. Take control of your art by preparing your own ground on Belgian Linen canvas. Use bare expanses of canvas as part of the painting or simply create the ground exactly ask you like.

• 100% Belgian Linen 6.9 oz per square yard
• Medium Weight, Medium Weave, Medium Texture
• Raw fabric blocks 92% of the light, which indicates how tight is the weave
• Warp and Weft: 38x49 yarns per square inch
• Linen has natural oils that prevent disintegration over time

18x18 Vincent Pro Keyable Cross Braced Frame

• Photo displays the exact frame construction, not the proportion
• Precision machined medium duty keyable tongue-and-groove Stretcher Bars
• Two 1/2" thick keyable cross braces (1.5" wide) provide excellent frame support for this 18x18 size - Cross braces may be removed and reinserted at any time
• An exclusive slot is milled on the inside perimeter of all of the Stretcher Bars to which the Braces and the expansion wedges attach
• Patented keyable cross braces allow the frame to be tensioned in the middle of the canvas, where the tension needed the most
• Cross braces firmly attached with hardware at the intersection point for maximum support and rigidity

Vincent™ Pro 7/8" Deep Bar • 5/16" Canvas Clearance

5/16" 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 Stretched Canvas Frame.

• Stretcher Bar Profile produces a 7/8" deep stretched canvas
• 1.5" wide Stretcher Bar
• Frames with a dimension of 16" and up have a groove machined in the center inside perimeter to which cross braces attach
• Solid Ponderosa Pine or Fir from the Pacific Northwest

What's so important about keyable canvas frames?

In dry and air conditioned environments, wood can shrink and canvas fibers elongate, thereby making the canvas looser to the point where you might see waves in the canvas. Keyability is an important feature that professionals cherish because it makes it possible to increase canvas tension without having to re-stretch it. There is a risk to re-stretching a canvas as it could apply undue stress on the paint across the surface which could accelerate cracking of the paint, particularly with oil paintings.

With Masterpiece's patented framing systems, you can tap the keys into the corners as well as the ends of the braces, which expands the canvas more equally across the entire surface. The difference between a loose or tight canvas is just 1/8", so even small adjustments with corner and brace keys can improve a stretched canvas.

To increase canvas tension:

1. Remove any staples in the corners above and below the canvas
2. Remove any staples that restrict the keys in the corners and braces
3. Tap all the expansion keys further into their respective slots until desired tension has been achieved
4. Using canvas pliers, tighten the canvas in the corners and staple
5. Canvas tension will be restored

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 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.

Selective Harvesting in our Sustainable Forests

Intelligent selective harvesting of timber is an ecological method to replace the natural occurrences of forest fires and disease and landslides that can devastate forests. This is all part of the process of sustainable forest management to which we subscribe when we choose which lumber we use in our products.

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 strength—minimizing risks of cracks, splits, or bends—but 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 Vincent™ 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

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

Vincent™ Pro Professional canvases are built one-by-one and stretched using our proprietary stretching process called, MuseumWrap™, which relies on in-house custom-built pneumatic machinery that delivers consistently drum-tight stretched canvas, balanced tension across the canvas surface, neatly folded uncut corners, and paintable edges. It is the absolute best way to stretch a canvas.

Art comes from joy and pain, but mostly from pain. ♦ Edvard Munch

Edvard Munch's reflection, Art comes from joy and pain, but mostly from pain, draws us into the intricate tapestry of emotions that fuel our creative expressions. Munch, whose life was marked by personal tragedies and emotional turmoil, found solace and catharsis in his art. His iconic work, The Scream, vividly illustrates how his pain and anguish permeated his creations.

As artists, we resonate with Munch's words, acknowledging that our work often emerges from the wellspring of intense emotions. Our struggles, vulnerabilities, and joys are the raw materials from which we craft our masterpieces. Munch's legacy reminds us that art is a powerful conduit for catharsis, allowing us to transform our pain into profound beauty, our darkness into illuminating insights. By embracing the full spectrum of human emotion, we create art that resonates deeply with the shared human experience, offering solace, empathy, and understanding to others who navigate the labyrinth of life through the prism of art.

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To enhance your creative exploration of our site, we offer the insightful wisdom of Edvard Munch, our interpretation, and little one-of-a-kind portrait that we created. Now go paint!