Should Paint By Numbers Canvas Be Gessoed

What is gesso?

Gesso, pronounced 'jesso', was traditionally used to gear up or prime number a surface and then Oil paint would adhere to it.

Gesso is the aforementioned every bit a primer, as in 'pre-primed canvass'.

It is fabricated from a combination of paint pigment, chalk and binder.

Traditional Oil 'glue gesso' was made with an animal glue binder, usually rabbit-skin glue, chalk, and white paint, usually Titanium white.

Gesso is usually white or off-white and is used after you lot have sealed the raw canvas with a glaze of size (see: the Trouble with Oil)

It creates a surface that is both absorbent (particularly useful for 'dead' colouring with oils) and has a 'tooth' (texture) that allows paint to grab onto the surface…

So what is Acrylic Gesso?

Modernistic acrylic gesso is a combination of calcium carbonate (chalk) with an acrylic polymer medium (binder), a pigment (titanium white) and other chemicals that ensure flexibility, and ensure long archival life.

Why do I need to utilise a gesso primer for Acrylic painting?

Technically you don't. But in do painting directly onto a raw canvas is not an enjoyable experience. Unless you are interested in deep staining effects like Morris Louis who became fascinated with using diluted acrylic paint to stain the raw canvas, rather than use with a brush.

Alpha-Pi

Alpha-Pi, 1960
Morris Louis (American, 1912–1962)
Acrylic on canvas

Can I use acrylic gesso nether an oil painting?

Yep and no.

Yeah for 90% of your paintings particularly if your simply starting time 'acrylic gesso' will be fine if the raw canvas has been properly sized, thus protecting the sheet from the corrosive nature of oil.

However, if it was for a portrait or to produce a masterpiece for your painting legacy I would use an Oil gesso purely for the fact it has been fourth dimension-tested and the Oil will always adhere better to Oil than sitting on superlative of an Acrylic.

Pro tip: If you lot want the start layer of paint to dry quicker than it usually might, only add gesso. The gesso primer layer can soak upwardly the oil from within the paint and leave a 'expressionless' flat underpainting that won't have any sheen to it. Imagine the difference between painting onto glass and painting onto blotting paper. All the oil from the pigment would be absorbed into the primer layer.

Practice I need to buy information technology?

Bootleg or ready made?

Shop bought gesso comes pre-prepared in tubs or tubes and is pretty skillful, bootleg gesso is cheaper to produce and can be adjusted to personal needs and tastes, yet, it'south not needed when you are first starting painting.

Artist or Student quality?

Every bit with paints, the deviation between the two is dependent on price. The artist quality having a higher price, more pigment, and a college opacity. The student quality will take a lower quantity of pigment and more filler. If you are painting onto a raw sail the artist quality would exist best due to the increased opacity. For adding a flake more absorbency to a pre-primed canvas student quality would be fine (you tin can e'er add a bit more white pigment to information technology).

Can I colour the gesso?

Yes, I am a big fan of working on a coloured ground and if you are pushed for time you can mix some paint into the gesso to tint it. You tin can likewise buy premixed black gesso, coloured gesso and clear gesso.

Pre-primed sheet boards

"Pre-primed" means "pre-gesso" It already has a gesso layer applied in the manufactory. On the cheaper ranges for some reason manufacturers often apply a seal on top which creates a shiny surface which is completely ridiculous… defeating the object of gesso!
If you are using watered down paint or pupil quality paints the shiny surface tin can repel the paint. The more watery the pigment the easier it volition sit on the surface and not soak into the canvas as yous would like.

If y'all apply a couple of coats of gesso it will form a more than absorptive surface due to the chalk (calcium carbonate- known every bit 'whiting' in oil painting) institute in the gesso.

Creating a super smooth terminate

You tin can sand gesso betwixt coats to create a lovely polish cease, specially handy for photo-realistic paintings, simply sand each layer with a fine sandpaper. Say a 240 dust. 3M'south make a expert sandpaper. But brand sure yous exercise it outside, or in a well-ventilated area every bit it goes everywhere!

How to gesso a raw sail for acrylic painting

What You Need:

Gesso
Decorators brush
Kitchen Roll
240 grit sandpaper if you want to sand the layers in betwixt each other.

Buy a tub of premixed white gesso and give it a stir. Again, this really comes down to personal preference, I work from a tub so I can control the corporeality of gesso on my brush for each stroke but you tin buy it in tubes.
The first coat e'er needs to be diluted with a touch of water (sometimes people recommend adding a bit of acrylic medium to prevent cracking but the layer is then thin and soaks straight in, it would never fissure).
Permit to dry, then apply a second coat. This can be applied thinly and does not be watered down. If you want a more absorbent surface, add some other layer.
When applying the gesso turn the canvas ninety degrees between coats to ensure an even coverage.
Utilise a final coat using the pure, undiluted gesso.
Using a 3-inch decorators castor, apply the gesso directly to the stretched canvas in fifty-fifty strokes. Work from the top to the lesser of the canvas, in parallel strokes from 1 edge to the other.
Wash your brush out immediately in running water then apply a brush cleaner to thoroughly remove the gesso out. It's worth cleaning information technology twice fifty-fifty if yous think it'southward clean.

Pro tip: Golden paints make a hard gesso that can be useful if you are working on a board. Due to the limited movement on a board compared with a sail, information technology tin can create a smoother cease.

You might besides like:

How a prepared sail can drastically meliorate your paintings

Source: https://willkempartschool.com/how-to-prime-a-canvas-with-gesso-for-an-acrylic-painting/

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