Priming Board/Canvas?

[cotron]

Sorry if this has been asked before, but I was wondering what the oil painters on the board use for priming their surfaces before painting? Right now all I've been using is acrylic gesso, and I know there's gotta be better stuff than what I'm using. Thanks in advance to anyone who chimes in.

[jrr]

winsor newton makes a good oil primer,
a good acrylic gesso is liquatex
gamblin makes a crappy oil primer and pearlpaint makes a terrible acrylic gesso.
these are the cheaper brands.
rabbit skin glue before applying the oils. bunny glue is pretty cheap, even the good stuff.
or pva size , if you're into that stuff.

[Chingwa]

Acrylic gesso works well but from what I've gathered recently you ought to also have an underlayer put on to size the board first. This prevents oil from seeping into your substrate. Animal glue, or PVA(Poly Vinyl Acetate) glue works well for this, just 1 coat to seal the board. Then apply 3 coats of gesso, lightly sanding each coat to build up a nice smooth painting surface.

In place of gesso you could use white lead, if you can find it, and don't worry much about the future :D Otherwise Acrylic gesso should work fine, and it dries pretty fast.

[jrr]

the acrylic gesso seals it fine, you don't need anything under it, the sealing ( pva, bunny glue )is for oil primers.