Mounting canvases on??? Logistical question

[Doreen Peri]

To all you artists out there... I've got a question.

I've been working on 2 different pieces.

A diptych (2-piece painting) and a 4 piece painting (quadtych??? I donno if that's what you call a 4-piece painting... just guessing)

What these are are paintings that I am painting together at the same time with the same pallette which when touching each other, form a bigger painting plus each piece can stand alone.

I'm finished with them. I thought I'd hang them separately right next to each other with about a half inch or inch space in between them but it didn't look good that way.

So, what I want to do is to mount them together on something... and I don't know what... to make it look like one canvas instead of my original plan for diptych and quadtychs...

Once I have the canvases assembled and mounted, I might fill in the gaps between the paintings with caulk or something and make it look like one piece, then paint the joints so it looks like one piece.

I tried attaching the boards of the canvas frames together in the back with a piece of metal and screws but it's not working. It's bending at the seams so it's not flat.

Any ideas about what I could use to mount the canvases together to turn them into one piece instead of several?

I was thinking maybe a piece of plywood might work but I can't figure out how I'd glue the canvases to the plywood.

LR suggested masonite but I did some research on the net and I'm not sure if that would work.

Plus, I need advice as to what adhesive might work to glue the canvases to the plywood or to the ??? whatever... lol

Thanks for advice from the artists out there.

Damn... I really need a resource for LARGE canvases.. like 4 feet by 6 feet.... also non-standard shaped canvases... you know like 2 feet high by 6 feet wide...

Thanks for your advice if anybody has any ideas and/or canvas resources.

Might have to make them myself and stretch the canvas myself but boy I so do NOT want to do that! It's enough for me to try to create a painting!!!

[judih]

sounds ambitious, doreen, but i'm sure you'll work this one out. (i know, some help i am)

If Kurt is around, he might be able to advise. He works BIG! And his wonderful northern Canada series were done on hmmm...was it plywood? Very heavy but very solid looking.

Contact cement works great to glue anything to anything, if you do the application of glue, wait at least 6 or 7 minutes, then attach and apply pressure for a few minutes. After 24 hours, it's glued.

You'd consider gluing the smaller canvases to one large one, i imagine. And you're willing to stretch the larger one yourself?

Again, i can't offer advice from experience, cause i'm an amateur when it comes to canvas - my solutions are always bizarre and it's better not to look at the back.

But maybe the artists here will see this thread. Keep it live.

[Sober Duck]

A window frame.
Make a window with four paynes.
When viewed it will appear as if you are looking out a window.

[~K]

I'd really like to see what your talking about. Right now I'm not convinced they should be fused. But I won't know until I see it! (the window pane idea sounds kind of cool though.)

[Doreen Peri]

Thanks you all..

the diptych (2), I've decided to hang separately.

The 4-piece painting needs to be fused...

A window pane idea is sorta cool... hmmm .. ty ducky

contact cement? ok.... glueing all the canvases to one larger one might work but that's been the problem... i don't have a resource for large canvases which is why I put these together...thanks judih (i'm obviously an amateur, too, btw... lol)

K- when I have a moment to breath, i'll take a couple of photos and post them.

[Zlatko Waterman]

Dear Doreen:

If your individual paintings are on stretched canvas, cut them off their stretchers and glue them flat to masonite, plywood, or whatever suits your purpose. Then you can move your multi-part single work around with ease.

An important question is what you plan to do with this work. Will it go on a wall, for instance? Then the hanging device becomes important. Are these acrylic paintings? If they are, they're pretty indestructible already. if they are oil, for instance, more caution needs to be taken with how they're mounted.

I work small these days for the very reasons you've hinted at here.

Kurt is the expert in these matters of large works, judih is right.

--Z

[Doreen Peri]

Zlatko... you're a genius! *smooch*

That's the way to do it properly! I KNEW there was a way!

Thank you!

It'll be some work, but well worth it!

[Artguy]

Like to help but I don't paint on canvas. Although I have seen groups of paintngs on stretched canvas mounted together on masonite painted black and about 1/2" apart then framed and looked great I guess it depends on the individual pieces and how strongly thet relate..............

[Doreen Peri]

OK. Here's the quad piece - the double piece I decided to hange separately.



Now, I know I'm not the most talented artist and I have a style that's almost like a kindergartener... lol... but I sorta like it and my original idea of hanging them about an inch apart from each other didn't work so I want to put them together.

For now? Guess how they're held together. Duct tape. On the back. too funny, huh? LR's idea.

I think Norman's idea of removing the canvases then mounting them on something else is a great one but I'm looking at this thing and it seems like a lot of work for the quality of this painting. I like it but I don't love it enough to go through that work, probably.

So, get this... this is what I'm thinking of doing... Leaving it on the wall where it is and getting some drywall mud to fill in the spaces, then touching it up where I filled the cracks and then finishing it... It's not really finished.. I have a bit more work to do on it.

After that? Then I'll figure out how to mount it on masonite or plywood or something.

What do you all think? Am I crazy?

Maybe I should just forget it and go on to the next one.

Thanks for looking and for your input.

By the way... put together like this the entire piece is 4' wide by 3' high.

[judih]

i like it
i like the spaces between the sections
i like the size

(and it goes with my couch - oops - a door-to-door-painting-salesperson-joke)

[jimboloco]

it would look good above our bed
nice dreaming!