ldakersRECYCLED PET painter’s canvas NEW MASTERS acrylic paint MASTER brushes Gerstaecker house brand Old Holland Robert Rost
As an avid professional painter, I have experience painting on many different surfaces. When Gerstaecker asked me to try out their PET RECYCLED canvas, my interest was immediately aroused – I had never worked on one before!
I used the NEW MASTER acrylic paint from Old Holland and the MASTER brushes from Gerstaecker – both of which have been on my must-try list for a long time. All in all, this was an interesting material review.
Just a few days after my order, two 60 cm x 80 cm canvases and two 30 cm x 40 cm canvases were delivered along with the paints and brushes, and I could start testing and trying out the materials.
I hereby give a brief report of my findings on the canvas, paints and brushes, which I started working with in my familiar way.
➽ And on-the-go I am so happy to show you my way of working as well!
This professional painting canvas is made 100% from recycled plastic PET bottles – an eco-friendly alternative to traditional painting cloths!
GERSTAECKER – RECYCLED PET painter’s canvas – universally primed
It is triple universally primed. So, you can work on it with oil paints, some temperas and acrylics. It is as flexible as a cotton or linen canvas, only a little heavier: 420 g/m².
• GERSTAECKER | MASTER 1091 brush ○ round – synthetic hair
• GERSTAECKER | MASTER 1090 brush ○ flat – synthetic hair
• GERSTAECKER | MASTER 1092 brush ○ cat’s tongue – synthetic hair
• GERSTAECKER | Spalter – hog bristle
• Old Holland | NEW MASTERS acrylic paint
• Old Holland | NEW MASTERS acrylic medium
Would you like to read more about my experiences with these materials?
Then read this REVIEW, in which I share my first impression with you!
MEUTE – study Crowd paintings series
I decide to use a 30 cm x 40 cm canvas for a study with acrylic paint in my Crowd paintings series – and I call that study MEUTE
In this thematic series, I always paint a crowd of people recognizable at a distance as a mob, but through the impressionistic painting style, when seen up close, break down into expressive painterly touches, each with its own abstract quality.
So, I am just going to do my own thing to see if I will notice any difference in the action of the canvas, paint and brushes!
First, I apply a base colour – in this case a deep and radiant purple that I mixed with phthalo blue and quinacridone magenta. A small amount of paint thinned with some water and acrylic medium is enough. The excess I rub away with a rag. It may be a bit smudgy, that works even better!
Applying such a base layer – also called an imprimatura – allows me to apply both dark and light tones directly in my painting – that is, I am not bound to build up from dark to light.
Also, I am not visually distracted by the bright white of the canvas and can immediately determine my lightest tones. In addition, the base colour helps to achieve a harmony across the entire canvas, and it is also not necessarily necessary to have to paint every piece of the canvas in a moment, and the carpet pad fills in the untouched areas by itself.
Finally, the colour chosen will also produce an effect, as it gives the colours put over it a different look. For example, a red placed on a white surface looks different from a red placed on blue.
01 – The purple mixed with black gives a darker version with which I set up darker planes. Here I give direction to the strokes and look for a dynamic composition within the plane.
02 – By applying light tones with a light grey, I quickly get a grip on the distribution and relationship between light and dark areas.
TIP! I don’t use pure white for this, so I can always apply lighter accents that can further direct the composition. The base layer applied allows me, as can be clearly seen here, to work from both dark and light, and everything I don’t touch is nicely filled in by the base tone. This results in a quick way of working which suits my painting style well.
03 – At this stage I already apply several colours – mixed or not – such as cadmium red, light blue and some pinks.
All in small suggestive touches, which should indicate all the individual people in the mass – only with an impression, not in detail!
04 – This is how I continue to smoothly work out the canvas, constantly adding even darker touches and even lighter touches. I keep correcting and painting planes on top of each other to achieve a nice tension and composition.
05 – With a smaller size of the MASTER brush, I apply more and more detail by painting smaller and smaller touches, planes and lines.
In reality, up close you still see only abstract paint strokes and no elaborate figures – from a distance, however, the suggestion of a mass of people gradually emerges. Smaller touches here give more detail in the image, but do not depict actual details.
06 – Then I apply darker areas again, correcting parts and increasing contrast.
This is how I continue to work on this study, adding more and more colours and colour variations as the paint I apply gets thicker and thicker. I apply this thicker paint in small blobs and touches that I direct and shape with the tip of my brush.
For now, I will leave this study at this stage. It serves the purpose of materials research and has also become a charming little painting of a mob in its own right!
Overall, the outcome of this material research is very positive.
➽ I am pleasantly surprised by the PET RECYCLED cloth. A good, stable surface that works well and is made of recycled material – highly recommended!
➽ The NEW MASTERS acrylic paint is of very nice quality with really beautiful, highly pigmented colours that give almost no colour shift when drying. I also find it interesting that the paint has some of the character of oil paints.
➽ I was also impressed by the quality of the MASTER brushes which give good control, absorb and release the paint well and also show a nice snap & jump and flexibility of the bristles.
Thank you GreatArt for asking me to test these materials!
About Robert
Robert is a professional painter living and working in Rotterdam. He has a track record of murals, studio paintings & portraits.
Rr Profile350X350 001 K
Besides his painting practice, he has extensive experience in transferring knowledge about painting materials and techniques. For instance, he taught at the Willem de Kooning academy in Rotterdam and set up The Fine Art Collective in the Netherlands, with which he supported many academies and art students for years with clinics and projects on the use of materials in cooperation with museums and professional artists.
He still develops many activities related to education and training, but now more focused on artists, teachers and corporate staff. With his great passion for painting, he has dealt with many topics and themes, but lately he has been focusing mainly on the theme of Crowd painting.
murals, studio paintings & © 2025 – text: Robert Rost & editors Gerstaecker NL | © 2025 – image: Robert Rost & editors Gerstaecker NL
Add comment