To Stretch your own, or not?

[Michael Georges]

I paint almost exclusively on wood panels and not on canvas...but when I do paint on canvas, I like to make my own.

I just like to know what my ground is made of - from the wood structure to the gesso. I want to know that the wood is quality, the linen is quality, and the ground is quality and applied in sufficient quantity.

I think there are probably some commercially made canvases that would come close to fitting that description, but I would still likely add a coat or two of my own gesso to them just to be sure.

My two cents...