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Damaged Canvas
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I'm trying to get some help as I've made rather a mess of my painting. I decided to strip back part of my painting that was dry and sanded part of it. However after doing this I realised because I was bearing down on part the canvas more where the strut is for support I have damaged that area of the canvas and the paint either isn't adhering or is soaking in too much, so I have a line running down the middle of the canvas where the edge of the struts is. Is there anyway I can rectify this and paint over it? Or am I just going to have to chalk this one up to experience . I have attach a photo so you see the damage.
By the look of this I would say it's a lost cause.However, if you do decide to jettison it why not be radical - cut the canvas off the frame, trim it and stick it on to a firm support. Then finish your painting. You could also re stretch more canvas on to the frame - a learning experience! Tell us what you decide.
I think I agree with Marjorie - it looks as though you've abraded the surface of the cloth itself, and weakened it -the soaking in of paint will be because you've removed the priming, but I think there's a bigger problem in that you've actually removed surface fibres: it will be very difficult to conceal damage like that.
But if you want to have a go - is this a standard, store-bought canvas or one you've stretched and primed yourself? If the latter, you know what you did to prepare it to accept paint, and you could try basically doing it again: whatever you used, rabbit skin glue and gesso, or acrylic priming, re-apply it and let it dry right out; then apply a little very thin painting medium on top and try painting on that.
If it was a store-bought canvas, it will almost certainly have been sized and primed with acrylic "gesso": buy yourself a tub of that (eg, Daler Rowney's Cryla Gesso Primer, which is the one I always use) and apply to the damaged area. Again, leave it to dry very thoroughly: if the damage shows through, you could apply further coats. This may work - but no guarantees: this is one of the problems with stretchers with struts under the painting area, especially if there's not a clear gap between the strut and the material (you've pressed the canvas onto the strut, of course, and one obvious lesson here is that if you're going to sand down a stretched canvas, always use a very light touch: I don't suppose you really need telling that by now!).
Don't waste your time struggling to patch the thing up if you're getting nowhere though - it's always a shame to lose your work, but if you've done it once you can do it again, and it's heart-sinkingly depressing to try salvaging something that's never going to come right.
