Sketching on Canvas

[Karin Wells]

Good heavens, do NOT put a graphite line under oil paint. It will eventually bleed through....even if your paint is an inch thick!

If you don't believe me, take a scrap of blank canvas, make a graphite scribble, and paint a layer of white over it. You won't have to wait too many days to see the sad result. Even if you add another layer, you'll eventually see the graphite scribble come through.

A fixative may help slow the process - maybe even years, but I doubt that it would be safe in the long run to paint in oils over graphite.

For example, if I wish to transfer a drawing to a canvas from a piece of tracing paper, I rub a soft pastel (any appropriate color that shows) onto the back of the tracing. Your drawing will transfer with the chalk (pastel) lines onto the canvas, and you can easily and safely paint over these.

Charcoal works too, but sometimes it's blackness muddies up your paint.

Better safe than sorry - find an alternative for that graphite pencil!

By the way, I have see some nice paintings on canvas with only graphite and turpentine washes...but that is a different animal altogether.