Following my foray into inkjet printing on watercolour paper, I tried printing on gessoed artist’s canvas.  Can you print straight on to gesso?  Probably not as different gessoes are very different in properties, as are the inks used by different printers.  My initial experiment showed that I could print well with my HP A3 printer, but the ink wouldn’t dry properly, and readily rubbed off.

Using the Golden digital ground gave much better results but, as for the watercolour paper, even the best inkjet settings I trialled delivered too much of some colour inks to the surface.  The result was that certain colours pooled on the surface with a semi-gloss sheen while other areas were matt.

Despite this, I found you could still get high definition resolution – in one portrait photo I trialled, individual strands of hair, eyelashes, and eyebrow hairs were clearly distinguishable – something I was surprised at given the relatively coarse nature of canvas.  [Unfortunately, because I decided to photograph the original late at night (while writing this blog) under artificial lighting at a slow shutter speed, the accompanying image is much less sharp and colour correct than the original canvas print.]

What about the quality of the image (contrast, colour rendition, etc.).  Canvas should be treated like any other paper – when you swap between them the results are different.  I found, using the digital ground, that colour saturation, contrast etc. were comparable to matt archival inkjet paper I use.

How you finish the surface also affects the final result (particularly the problem of different areas of sheen from the inks).  Initial tests quickly showed that if you want to apply water based coatings, it is best to spray them (as they tend to shift some of the ink).

The most foolproof method I found was a couple of initial spray coats (aerosol can) of Nuart gloss or semigloss varnish, followed by at least two coats of Golden satin archival varnish.  Personally I found the Golden archival satin varnish gave the best looking finish, and with the added protection of UV protection.

Would I do it again?  Yes.  It is quite fulfilling, and actually constitutes more than putting some media in the printer and hitting the PRINT button.  My advice however is: 

• try using different grades of artists canvas with different textures;
• use a digital ground and apply this evenly (very important);
• let the ground dry thoroughly before printing;
• do small test prints first on the canvas (with ground applied) as you may need to make significant adjustments to contrast, brightness, colour balance, etc. than if you were painting on inkjet paper;
• familiarize yourself with the different characteristics of the coated canvas, and work with them to create something different;
• once you’ve master canvas, try other fabrics and textiles (just make sure they’re thin and flexible enough to feed through your printer);
• also remember that most inkjets weren’t specifically designed for media other than inkjet paper and that damage is possible.  However, as printers often cost less than a replacement set of inks, the risk is often worth it.