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?
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
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
“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!
Hi Mike,
I would gesso it, if I wanted it to last many years.
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.
Is it right for me to soak my Canvas first in plain water overnight then when it dries up I streched it on a Plywood Board,Tack it and apply Acrylic Latex Paint all over then finally proceed to do my Artwork and after finishing my Piece and it has all dried up…apply Clear Emulsion Paint to brighten up and protect the finished Artpiece,is my process right?i’ve been doing it for years…was i wrong or will cracks eventually show in my Works,please advice me…ASAP~thanks Cindy.
I think soaking it in water then stretching it would be just fine. Not sure about applying Acrylic Latex Paint as your first coat. Do you mean latex paint found in home improvement / hardware stores? Most artist paint does not contain latex. I personally would switch to acrylic gesso, since it is specifically made for fine art paintings. Latex is not an ingredient typically found in fine art paint and mediums.
As for the cracks developing on the ones you have already painted, I can’t really answer that. All I can say is that the paint manufacturers that produce fine art acrylic paint, and who test it, recommend using acrylic gesso to have the best chance of your painting holding up well for hundreds of years. I definitely would not roll the finished paintings – leave them on the stretchers, don’t hang them in direct sun, and don’t subject them to extreme temperature variations (keeping them in your house on the wall is the best idea) But that advice goes for all fine art paintings if you want to conserve them.
I must admit, due to storage issues, I keep some of my in an unheated garage, stacked up against each other – not the the recommended storage method, but I don’t really have an alternative sometimes.
Cindy
What I would like to know is how much the canvas actually shrinks after gesso’d. I already cut my canvas to the dimensions I need without taking into account that it would shrink after applying gesso. I have a cotton canvas that is unstretched, Is it neccessary to stretch the canvas before adding gesso as well? I have to ship the completed painting out of state, so I was originally planning on just painting it as is, but all this talk of canvas shrinking and stretching is getting me confused. I am painting with acrylics also.
Hi Betsy, maybe you could do a test strip to see how much it shrinks. Sometimes mine just tightens up on the stretchers, other brands have shrunk quite a bit more. The problem I have with gesso on unstretched canvas is it wrinkles up and gets wavy. Since you have already cut it, I would stretch it first before applying anything to it.
Sorry if this is confusing, if you have enough canvas to experiment with small extra scrap pieces it is less confusing – always easier when you can see it instead of just read about it.
Cindy
Thank you so much for the wonderful and most artistic advice you just gave me Cindy,noted.
I want to use decoupage to put a color picture onto an old milk can. The surface has been spray-painted with several coats of automobile enamel but is still slightly dimpled (very tiny dimples).
Can I use clear gesso (rather than polyurethene which is what I use on wood) for this?
Thx
Not certain if you are wanting a stable undercoat or a top coat. Don’t think gesso is designed for smoothing out dimples on metal surfaces, I would ask an auto body shop painter. sorry can’t be of more help, our site deals mainly with fine art acrylic paint applications.
Thanks. Our local auto body guy who does some very good custom work has only done via decals or directly painting. I will try both gesso (since it can be sanded and polyurethane on the bottom of the can.
John
Hello Cindy
re : preventing out gassing from plywood panels by using isolating mediums such as Dammar Varnish, Shellac, Acrylic Grounds, Other Mediums…..
Out gassing through up to 9 coats of sanded hide glue gesso isolated on the final sanded coat with damar varnish or shellac from pressed wood panels has discolored or disappeared oil paintings within 2 weeks and also ruined them many years later …
Is it technically sound to isolate a plywood panel from outgassing with GAC, an Acryllic Gesso Ground or any isolating medium applied directly to the panel and then paint over the isolating medium with up to 9 coats of sandable acrylic gesso?
As Ever, John
Hi Cindy,
Thanks for the information posted above. I am a Lecturer in Fine Art at WSU in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. Our institution is in dire straights; Financially – as are our students. I was looking for an acrylic gesso recipe that we could try to make our selves as an alternative to the R200 (a loaf of standard bread is R 8 – that’s my exchange rate when I travel) for a liter. Up and until now we have been sizing and priming our 12 gauge cotton duct canvas with wood glue and PVA – house paint.. of course the quality of the house paint is not the best.. and in time the surfaces do seem to crack… but not before they are marked…So in short i would love to get my hands on a gesso and an acrylic gesso recipe.
Thanks for a great site.
Dee- Ann Leach
Can Gesso be applied over a painted surface (Enamel).
Thanks.
Jomi,
I would not apply gesso over an enamel surface. Acrylics don’t perform well over oil based surfaces. Thanks, Cindy
I am planning a school art project involving wood tiles. Would you suggest using gesso as a primer on the blocks prior to the kids painting them with acrylic paint or would any wood primer be fine? I am assuming without a primer, the wood will absorb a lot of their paint. Once painted by the kids, can I then use any spray sealant on the art piece?
Hi Tammey,
If you already have the wood primer, I would use that. For fine art, most suggest sealing the wood, then gesso, then paint. But I don’t think all that is necessary for a kids project. If you already have gesso, then I think I would use that. (not that kids aren’t important! It’s just I don’t think it needs to be prepared to last 500 years.)
Thanks Cindy. One more question. My husband purchased a cedar post, which we will cut into varying sizes for the wood blocks. He said I CAN’T paint cedar. If this is the case, we would plan to have the kids paint a 3×5 square of canvas, cut it out and then glue it directly to the face of the cedar block. Do I need to prepare the cedar in anyway to make sure the canvas sticks and doesn’t get destroyed? What would you suggest as the best way to glue the canvas to the cedar? Also, does the canvas need to be prepared in anyway if the kids will be painting with acrylics? Thanks so much for your feedback. This is a school art auction project and I would hate to mess it up.
Good info about gesso. Seeing painters using oil, and also acrylic, they will often mix gesso with their paints, as they paint, and say it helps spredding/or coverage as they paint. Is this ok?
I would never add gesso, a water-based product, to oil paint. I think it is best to use zinc white instead of gesso for mixing acrylic paint color.
Hello, can I use clear acrylic Gesso to coat a Giclee poster/print to add an oil brushed texture? I have a large image I want to hang, and it’s so large that non-glare glass would make it too heavy, so I thought I could produce some type of oil brushed texture to protect the image, without the weight. And also, can I add some sort of slight yellow hue to the Gesso to render the print an older look (you know, how the old time varnish would have a yellow cast)? Thank you in advance for your time!
Hi Pam,
You probably could use clear gesso. If your paper is really thin, then the water in the clear gesso will cause it to crinkle up – ALOT sometimes. Test in the corner perhaps? I wouldn’t try adding the yellow, unless you are very familiar with different shades of yellow. Many will be much brighter than you are expecting. Or practice on a similair photo from a magazine maybe… Just some ideas.
The biggest risk is that the water in any acrylic top coat will wrinkle the poster.
Cindy
Hi.. i have some doubts in preparing and priming the canvac for oil painting..
usually i mix binder with water and apply to the raw canvas.. then i mix binder, chalk powder and water and then i apply 2 coatings upon the binder sized canvas.. i will sand smoothly in btwn coats. then i apply a coat containg a mixture of binder, chalk powder, water & linseed oil.. after it is completely dried.. i apply titanium white acrylic paint as the ground tone and then start to paint with oils.. IS IT CORRECT TO APPLY ACRYLIC PAINT UPON THE LINSEED OIL BASED GESSO..??? PLS CLEAR ME .. THANK U