Every painting i've done has been on paper so far. I really don't get on well with canvas (maybe i've haven't found the right canvas)
Because they're just on paper I don't feel they're good enough to sell.

Any advice on how to present your pieces? Or a canvas that's just like paper?!

Thanks

Tess

Hi Tess

You shouldn't rule out selling your work just because it's on paper - as long as the paper is suitable for the medium you're using of course. What do you work in? Watercolours are nearly always done on paper and acrylics work well on paper too, I'm not so sure about oils although I believe you can buy paper which is suitable for oil paint. Just make sure you buy good quality paper so that it doesn't buckle.

On the presentation side, paintings on paper are very easy to mount which if you don't want to pay for framing makes them look a whole lot better than just showing someone a sheet of paper. You can buy ready made mounts already wrapped in cellophane which then fit standard sized frames. Hobbycraft and Art-Retail sell very reasonably priced ones, just try to get hold of brown framers tape to attach the paper to the mount.

Good luck! Do you have a website to link to?

Cheers
Elise

I'm working with acrylics at the moment. I'm a complete novice, i don't know much about the whole thing yet, i just enjoy painting!

I've posted some pictures up somewhere of a horse i'm working on at the moment.

Thanks for the advice! really helpful!

If you're using acrylics then definitely don't worry, I have done lots of acrylics on paper and am happy to sell them (or try to anyway ). The paper I use is W&N Galeria acrylic paper which has a nice texture on it which makes it more interesting than just plain paper. You can use watercolour paper too, but that doesn't happen to suit my style so well.

Is the problem with canvas that the surface is too rough for you? If so, it's sometimes worth putting an extra coat of gesso before painting, particularly if you're buying cheaper canvases to try them out. I bought some Boldmere canvases out of the Works and found the surface very hard to work on initially as the paint seemed to just sink in - a coat of gesso made all the difference. Canvas boards may also be worth a try, because the canvas is stuck onto a hard surface it tends to be smoother and possibly a bit more like working on paper.

cheers
Elise