diff --git a/src/widget.ts b/src/widget.ts
index a53bb82..9bc7732 100644
--- a/src/widget.ts
+++ b/src/widget.ts
@@ -377,6 +377,34 @@ export class CanvasManagerModel extends WidgetModel {
   static model_module_version = MODULE_VERSION;
 }
 
+export class AsyncValueWidgetModel<ValueType> extends WidgetModel {
+  initialize(attributes: any, options: any) {
+    super.initialize(attributes, options);
+
+    this._initPromise = new Promise(resolve => {
+      this._resolve = resolve;
+    });
+  }
+
+  async initialized(): Promise<ValueType> {
+    return this._initPromise;
+  }
+
+  set value(v: ValueType) {
+    this._underlyingValue = v;
+    this._resolve(v);
+  }
+
+  get value(): ValueType | undefined {
+    return this._underlyingValue;
+  }
+
+  protected _underlyingValue: ValueType | undefined = undefined;
+
+  private _initPromise: Promise<ValueType>;
+  private _resolve: (value: ValueType) => void;
+}
+
 export class Path2DModel extends WidgetModel {
   defaults() {
     return {
@@ -401,7 +429,7 @@ export class Path2DModel extends WidgetModel {
   static model_module_version = MODULE_VERSION;
 }
 
-export class PatternModel extends WidgetModel {
+export class PatternModel extends AsyncValueWidgetModel<CanvasPattern> {
   defaults() {
     return {
       ...super.defaults(),
@@ -430,7 +458,7 @@ export class PatternModel extends WidgetModel {
     }
 
     if (patternSource == undefined) {
-      throw 'Could not understand the souce for the pattern';
+      throw 'Could not understand the source for the pattern';
     }
 
     const pattern = PatternModel.ctx.createPattern(
@@ -450,8 +478,6 @@ export class PatternModel extends WidgetModel {
     image: { deserialize: unpack_models as any }
   };
 
-  value: CanvasPattern;
-
   static model_name = 'PatternModel';
   static model_module = MODULE_NAME;
   static model_module_version = MODULE_VERSION;
@@ -462,7 +488,7 @@ export class PatternModel extends WidgetModel {
   );
 }
 
-class GradientModel extends WidgetModel {
+class GradientModel extends AsyncValueWidgetModel<CanvasGradient> {
   defaults() {
     return {
       ...super.defaults(),
@@ -481,8 +507,10 @@ class GradientModel extends WidgetModel {
 
     this.createGradient();
 
-    for (const colorStop of this.get('color_stops')) {
-      this.value.addColorStop(colorStop[0], colorStop[1]);
+    if (this.value) {
+      for (const colorStop of this.get('color_stops')) {
+        this.value.addColorStop(colorStop[0], colorStop[1]);
+      }
     }
   }
 
@@ -495,8 +523,6 @@ class GradientModel extends WidgetModel {
     );
   }
 
-  value: CanvasGradient;
-
   static model_module = MODULE_NAME;
   static model_module_version = MODULE_VERSION;
 
@@ -1077,11 +1103,11 @@ export class CanvasModel extends DOMWidgetModel {
 
   async setAttr(attr: number, value: any) {
     if (typeof value === 'string' && value.startsWith('IPY')) {
-      const widgetModel: GradientModel = await unpack_models(
+      const widgetModel: AsyncValueWidgetModel<any> = await unpack_models(
         value,
         this.widget_manager
       );
-      value = widgetModel.value;
+      value = await widgetModel.initialized();
     }
 
     (this.ctx as any)[CanvasModel.ATTRS[attr]] = value;
diff --git a/ui-tests/playwright.config.js b/ui-tests/playwright.config.js
index f6e8d6d..6bbb5d6 100644
--- a/ui-tests/playwright.config.js
+++ b/ui-tests/playwright.config.js
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ module.exports = {
   webServer: {
     command: 'jlpm start',
     url: 'http://localhost:8888/lab',
-    timeout: 600000,
+    timeout: 1200000,
     reuseExistingServer: !process.env.CI
   },
   retries: 1
diff --git a/ui-tests/tests/ipycanvas.test.ts b/ui-tests/tests/ipycanvas.test.ts
index 25badf3..1154056 100644
--- a/ui-tests/tests/ipycanvas.test.ts
+++ b/ui-tests/tests/ipycanvas.test.ts
@@ -5,6 +5,10 @@ import { expect, IJupyterLabPageFixture, test } from '@jupyterlab/galata';
 import * as path from 'path';
 const klaw = require('klaw-sync');
 
+function delay(ms: number) {
+  return new Promise( resolve => setTimeout(resolve, ms) );
+}
+
 
 const filterUpdateNotebooks = item => {
   const basename = path.basename(item.path);
@@ -29,6 +33,7 @@ const testCellOutputs = async (page: IJupyterLabPageFixture, tmpPath: string) =>
 
     await page.notebook.runCellByCell({
       onAfterCellRun: async (cellIndex: number) => {
+        await delay(150);
         const cell = await page.notebook.getCellOutput(cellIndex);
         if (cell) {
           results.push(await cell.screenshot());
diff --git a/ui-tests/tests/ipycanvas.test.ts-snapshots/ipycanvas-ipynb-cell-36-linux.png b/ui-tests/tests/ipycanvas.test.ts-snapshots/ipycanvas-ipynb-cell-36-linux.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..33ab77e
Binary files /dev/null and b/ui-tests/tests/ipycanvas.test.ts-snapshots/ipycanvas-ipynb-cell-36-linux.png differ
diff --git a/ui-tests/tests/notebooks/ipycanvas.ipynb b/ui-tests/tests/notebooks/ipycanvas.ipynb
index b4bec4f..c4e955e 100644
--- a/ui-tests/tests/notebooks/ipycanvas.ipynb
+++ b/ui-tests/tests/notebooks/ipycanvas.ipynb
@@ -975,6 +975,20 @@
     "\n",
     "canvas"
    ]
+  },
+  {
+   "cell_type": "code",
+   "execution_count": null,
+   "id": "a5f0a7f5",
+   "metadata": {},
+   "outputs": [],
+   "source": [
+    "canvas = Canvas()\n",
+    "pattern = canvas.create_pattern(Image.from_url(\"https://jupyter.org/assets/homepage/main-logo.svg\"))\n",
+    "canvas.fill_style = pattern\n",
+    "canvas.fill_rect(0, 0, canvas.width, canvas.height)\n",
+    "canvas"
+   ]
   }
  ],
  "metadata": {