Experienced painters sometimes forget exactly how intimidating art supply lingo can be for a beginning painter. I learned to paint from books, so not only did I not know what gesso was, I didn’t even know how to pronounce it. So I felt like a double-dummy asking for it in the art store. We’ve all been there. There is no shame in it.
Here is everything you need to know about Acrylic Gesso. And more.
Pronounced, Jess-O000, Gesso is typically a white, opaque liquid mixture used as a absorbent primer or base coat for your canvas. Today, lots of read-made, stretched canvas comes already coated with acrylic gesso.
Five Acrylic Gesso Facts:
- Although usually white, Gesso also comes in other colors too, such a black, gray, gold, blue, red … even clear.
- Gesso had adds tooth to the surface. Meaning it dries with a rough not slick surface to which paint can more easily adhere.
- Thick layers of Gesso are more prone to cracking than thick layers of acrylic paint. Three thin layers are better than one thick layer of Gesso.
- Gesso is NOT the same as acrylic paint. Might sort of look the same, but it is NOT the same. Gesso will not perform in the same manner over time. See article What is Acrylic Paint?
- Gesso smells funny. Kinda yucky compared to the mostly orderless acrylic paint.
Old School Gesso
While many oil painters do indeed paint over Acrylic Gesso, some purists contend that over time, like decades, oil paint will delaminate (peel off or fall off) from the acrylic gesso undercoat. They suggest using old school gesso made from rabbit skin glue for preparing canvas for oil painting.
Back in the day, gesso was made from Gypsum. The Italians, pronounced this as Gesso instead of Gypsum and the name stuck. This old school gypsum substrate was rather brittle and susceptible to cracking, so it was mostly used for wood panels back then. Later, gypsum was traded in for rabbit skin glue, but artists still referred to it as gesso. Go figure.
Tidbits: In researching “how to make rabbit skin glue”, all the instructions begin with a bag of store bought rabbit skin glue nuggets. But where do the nuggets in the bag come from? How do you actually make it? I think I know but I am scared to say it out loud. Does one actually go catch a bunch of rabbits and take their skin off? If I had a pet rabbit, I might think twice about moving next door to a traditional oil painter. Yet one more reason why acrylic painters ROCK over oil painters!
This entire animal skin glue topic begs further research on my part but I don’t have time to go into it now. I think it is safe to conclude that simply buying a bag of rabbit skin nuggets doesn’t really count as making your own rabbit skin glue. Does making your canvas involve actually growing the cotton, weaving it into cloth, then stretching it?
Don’t try to use acyrlic paint over rabbit skin gesso, it won’t “work” and you will be very, very sorry in a few years.
Today’s Acrylic Gesso
Modern Acrylic Gesso does more than add tooth to the surface. It also seals the canvas. It provides a flexible substrate with tooth. This will enable your acrylic paint to adhere to your canvas longer than a bad date waits for a kiss your front porch.
Interchangeable Words:
- Basecoat
- Primer
- Ground
All of these pretty much mean the same thing, so don’t let it confuse you. Basically it’s the stuff you put onto your canvas before you can paint on it. And most likely, that stuff is called Acrylic Gesso.
How to Properly Gesso a Raw Canvas:
Like skinning a cat, or a rabbit in the case of gesso, there is more than one way to do it. But most artists agree on 2 -3 THIN coats. Some lazy ones choose to slap on one thick coat and move along to something more fun.
The first gesso coat should be watered down a bit, allowing the water / gesso mixture to penetrate the cotton or linen fibers. I have found the water helps shrink the canvas a bit, tightening up the whole affair so that you don’t wind up with a loose, soft painting surface. (I am assuming that you are dealing with stretched canvas, on wooden stretcher bars, not just a floppy piece of canvas that you cut off the back of Omar’s tent)
The second gesso coat is applied thinly, but not watered down. Some traditional types suggest a light sanding before the second coat to remove the fuzz that develops from the wetting of the canvas cloth on the first coat. I never do this, and it works fine for me. If you want an extra smooth painting surface, better to sand it.
By the way, never sand where you paint. There is no vacuum on earth that can truly get rid of the dust that results from sanding anything in your painting studio. It will eventually get into your wet paintings or your final varnish coat.
- Get off your stool
- Take your tush outside your studio
- Sand your surface.
The third gesso coat is generally agreed upon to be optional. If you are sloppy or tend to spread your gesso is really thin, a third coat will ensure all the little pinholes and missed specks are covered completely with gesso.
Acrylic Gesso on Paper or Wood:
If you don’t like to paint on canvas, many acrylic painters choose to apply gesso to professional watercolor paper or smooth wooden panels. It works the same to prepare the surface for acrylic paint and give it tooth. You can also paint directly onto watercolor paper with acrylic paint, but this works best when using thinned acrylic paint and watercolor techniques.
Painting on wood panels adds another level of complexity to your preparation process. Wood panels require additional sealing and sanding, depending on the type of panel.
Did I leave anything out?
If you know some additional facts or details about gesso, please enter your comments in our reply section below.
Excellent article written with humor! Thanks for the info which I found very useful as I want to paint a bunch of old dirty canvas boxes. But I need some advice. Saw in Europe designer canvas totes repainted to use as flower baskets. Very expensive. So why not make my own? But which paint should I use (yes, I know, I have to prime whatever with gesso) to get a stiff and/or somewhat crackled look?
Some of my gesso background covering the page will not absorb the watercolor paint.
What do I do? I gessoed sketch book pages for my journal. I am an absolute novice in art techniques.
Hi Dorothy,
Gesso is manufactured to work with acrylic and/or oil paint. (Although acrylic and oil shouldn’t be used on the same surface – like oil and water, they just don’t mix). Watercolor pigment/paint is manufactured to be used on paper. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but your watercolor paints would have performed better on bare paper.
My advice: use that sketchbook with a little acrylic set, or with colored pencils and pens. When I use watercolor for sketching, I try to get a book with thick pages so that the paper stay flatter. It always will bend a bubble a bit in my experience, unless you have a book with 300 lb paper, which would be a little overkill for casual sketching anyway. I am not even sure such sketchbooks exist.
Hope that helps a little, don’t dispair, I always believe in breaking the rules a bit and having fun with my art, especially for casual explorations when I don’t plan for it to wind up in a gallery for sale – just have fun!
Cindy Davis
Hi Margaret,
I think acrylic paint would work great for your totes. I would like to see a pic of them whenever you get one finished.
I used to buy canvas purses at thrift stores and paint on them. Sometimes I gessoed, sometimes I didn’t. The gessoed bags were slightly stiffer, but most importantly the color was brighter and purer – as most of the purses were kahki color. All acrylic paint will stiffen fabric when it dries, you typically have to add a fabric medium to it for it to remain soft and wearable (think tee shirts).
As for the flower baskets, do they need to hold potting soil, or just hold flowers. I would gesso the inside to and then find a plastic liner or something if you want it to hold up more than one growing season. Just guess, I do NOT have a green thumb, so don’t shoot me if this is bad advice.
Hope if works out for you! I love to see people recreate expensive designer things at a fraction of the cost!
Cindy Davis, editor
Acrylic Paint Review
“Did I leave anything out?”
Yes you didnt describe how to make your own acrylic gesso substitute
Hello,
I want to make my own canvas coating for Acrylic painting.
Instead of buying Acrylic Gesso of Camlin Company for Painting (website – http://www.camlin.com/catalog/artists-range/camel-mediums/camel-preparatory-medium/camel-artists-gesso), I want to coat it by Acrylic Emulsion for Exterior – white color of Asian Paints Company (website – http://www.asianpaints.com/applications/decorative_selector_result.aspx?SelSurface=Exterior%20Walls&SelBrand=0&newprod= ) (i.e. by best quality household painting / wall painting) on the uncoated Canvas. And after that I want to paint by Acrylic colors of Camlin Company.
If I do in this way is my painting will last longer? Will it crack? Will it have fungus? Will the ground is perfect for Acrylic painting?
This is my first time I am preparing my own Canvas. However yesterday I have tried to primed canvas with white ink powder + PVA Glue + Water and Acrylic Texture white. This process is messy, time consuming. Also I have tried in another way by giving four layers of thin Acrylic texture white on uncoated canvas. This process is easier. But the price of Acrylic texture white is more than double than Acrylic Emulsion.
So, I want to use Acrylic Emulsion for Exterior – white color for coating. Is this will be suitable for Acrylic painting?
hi, please could you tell me about Gesso. i have made a rocking horse and have been told that Gesso is the paist to use to cover it. please advise me. also could you tell me were to purchase it, its brand name and anything else i need to know. thank you
Acrylic paint does not rot canvas. Only oil paint rots canvas, the acids in oil, linseed, safflower, walnut and even poppy rot canvas.
You never mentioned if Gesso can be used to treat a wood surface for exterior use.
Hi John,
I would probably use house paint primer for outdoor use instead of gesso, unless it is for a fine art project. You can use it, but it isn’t really manufactured for outdoor use.
Cindy Davis
editor, Acrylic Paint Review
I am making a large canvas wall that I can take down and trying to figure out the best way to prepare the canvas so that the paint will stick and not crack. Do I need to apply gesso to it or could I just paint it with an acrylic paint? The wall will be 8′x8 and is going to be a two toned striped wall. I am hoping to beable to paint this and then take it down and fold it up and ship this. Has anybody done anything like this and/or have any tips or instructions that might help me in my project. Thanks
Hi Jeff,
I think gesso will make it last longer, but will add to the cost.
The water in the gesso or the paint will shrink the canvas, so you might want to keep that in mind when you measure.
Are you painting both the stripes? or is one painted and one bare canvas? if that is the case I would gesso it first so you will get a more consistent surface.
From my experience, one you add the paint or gesso, it wrinkles or puckers a bit until it is dry.
If I am painting on Duck Cloth with spray paint, do I also need to apply a coat of Acrylic Gesso?
Thanks!
Our students painted a wonderful canvas and when the teacher put on the top coat, she accidentally used Gesso. Is there any way to remove it, without damaging the painting beneath?
Sorry, I don’t know of a way to remove dried gesso without sanding it – which will probably also remove the painting underneath.
Hi Mike,
I would gesso it, if I wanted it to last many years.