What do you use as gesso. (if you don't use gesso)

[Deadsprite]

This is more of a question of if you DON'T use gesso, what do you use to prime your canvas.

Mine is a custom mix of materials to suit my needs for whatever particular surface i'm working on. It's generally a mix of plaster, white (or off white) latex paint and sometimes paper pulp (for a sculptural build up). Normally i use a mix of 10 paint to 1 part plaster but if i want a rock hard surface that i can carve into i use a 10 to 3 ratio, and if i want a surface i can sand smooth sculpt and still light weight ... i take a roll of toilet paper and soak it overnight until it falls apart so i can blend it to raw pulp with a jiffy mixer (then just drain and mix).

My mix is light weight, flexible (for materials that give like canvas), costs practically nothing and can work as a base that can be used for stains, washes, drawing, sanding carving, and almost everything.


a friend of mine swears by his sand-tar-fiberglass (and thats the loose fiber for fiberglass resin, not the resin itself) concoction for the primer for his sculptural pieces. personally i think he's a little loopy from the fumes, but he does good work.

I'd love to hear what you guys use.

[timpaatkins]

I tried a bunsch of things this summer, mainly different house paint grounds, alkyds as well as acrylic gessoes. The alkyds turned out to be really slippery, i had a hard time to make the paint stick, infuriating at first, but then I got used to painting more softly. I still wanted some more tooth though, so I got some regular acrylic gesso. I wanna give the gamblin and winsor newton oil primer now that im back in the states, so Ill see how that goes. I paint mainly on hardboard, but i may tinker with some linen, so well see how tghat goes!

[Elwell]

I wanna give the gamblin and winsor newton oil primer now that im back in the states, so Ill see how that goes.
I've heard good reviews of the W&N oil primer, and very bad ones of the Gamblin. The main thing with any oil ground, even alkyd ones like those, is to let it cure thoroughly before painting on it. It's not like an acrylic ground, where you can slap a few coats on in the morning and paint on it in the afternoon.

[Craig D]

I noticed this post right after I bought some Gamblin primer.
Tristan, what did you hear?

[Elwell]

Again, this isn't from personal experience, but I've heard some complaints about over-glossiness and drying problems. Try a few test panels/canvases and tell us what you think.

[Deadsprite]

i heard that too about gamblin. apperently to get around it people use really fine sand paper to add a little tooth to the surface so the paint will take a little better. And yeah, definantly let it fully cure.

[slipp3ry]

i was a commercial house painter for a couple years, and i personally wouldnt trust latex for priming for oil painting. that doesnt sound solid , imo. but i guess it depends on what kind of painting you are doing on it also.. if you paint really thin with oils i think it would be bad.

[Geir]

I've been experimenting alot some years back with several types of gessos. The classic original gesso does not work on canvas, so I tryed out some mixes of acrylic gesso. none of them was good enough. So what I ve found to be best is was the 2020 gesso made by Lascaux. It takes pure oil paint as well as diluted with oil or white spirit. I start with gluing the canvas with rabbit skin glue to protect the fabric from the oils, and than I start coating. I usually let it cure over night just to be sure, sand down all the tops and prime again. I give each canvas 3 to 5 such coats depending on how much canvas texture I want.
About the house paiting for ground; DO'NT use it. This is not ment to last for more than a few years. Than it can start cracking or yellowing. You should, as a rule of thumb, NEVER use industrial paint or mediums for art. Use the artist quality. This are ment to last. And you want your art to look as fresh as possible for the historians in a couple of centuries aswell, do'nt you?:)

[Deadsprite]

i was a commercial house painter for a couple years, and i personally wouldnt trust latex for priming for oil painting. that doesnt sound solid , imo. but i guess it depends on what kind of painting you are doing on it also.. if you paint really thin with oils i think it would be bad.

ooo ... no, i wouldn't use that for oil paints at all. oil paints will go onto it ... but won't bond with the latex base. i've seen more than a few paintings peel off their ground in a gallery because they didn't use the right ground. My work is completely non-oil, so i never have to worry about that.

[jrr]

i've used the gamblin primer. it is diarrhea.