An experiment with oil ground

I've been wanting to try using an oil based ground for my paintings on canvas and decided I would finally give it a try. 

Scrub PVA Size onto an unstretched canvas.

I used half of the bottle on a 36" by 48" canvas. I let it dry for an hour.

Stretch the canvas as per usual.

Just to be on the safe side, I thought I'd let the canvas sit for a day. I was hoping the size would tighten up the canvas a little bit. There was a nasty crease on it from being tucked away on my shelf.

Add a bit of solvent to the oil based ground and mix with a palette knife.

Glob the ground onto the canvas and spread with a flat scraper. Smooth out any ridges with a bristle brush,

It took a whole jar of the ground to do one coat of the 36" by 48" canvas. I tried applying the ground with a brush instead of a flat scraper, but that didn't help much.

So, as you can see, the canvas is limp and the crease is still there. Also, I noticed that the ground absorbed through the canvas all the way through. 

Fails.

A couple of things. Maybe I should have stretched the canvas before applying the size. But I don't think that would have helped smooth out the crease. Maybe I should have applied two coats of the size, just to make sure it got all the pores.

Hmm. So I think it might stick with the standard acrylic gesso for priming my canvases. I do enjoy how the gesso acts as a size and makes the canvas taut when it dries. 

Oh well, it was an interesting experiment. Hopefully, I can reuse the canvas when it's dry.