Gesso'ing a Canvas
Gesso'ing a Canvas
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8:57

Portrait Painting in Oil Without a Brain

Getting Started
Morgan Weistling
This lesson is covering how I gesso a canvas to use for oil painting. If you have any questions about the process, or for other materials you want to try and use ask here.
Newest
@nahlamahmoud
As I understood I have to put acrylic primer then acrylic gesso white not clear or both are the same cause unfortunately this is the first time I know abut acrylic primer and acrylic gesso
Robert McGreevy
Hello, I've never gesso'd a canvas before, and unfortunately the process is king of owning me...first off, I get ridges. No matter how many layers I apply and passes I do with the credit card, every time I try to rid of a ridge I make new ones. What can I do about this? Let it dry and sand it down a bit? Just use a huge squeegee the size of the whole canvas? Also, when it dries it buckles out a bit...not so much I can't use it as a painting surface, but would be nice to avoid this if possible. Is there a solution? Thanks, looking forward to the rest of the course
@alanareynolds123
Hey there, apologies for perhaps stating the obvious but when you say buy "acrylic primed," I had a moment of confusion becuase most canvases I see say "acrylic gesso primed." So my takeaway is you reccomend putting gesso on top of these "acrylic gesso primed" canvases?
Morgan Weistling
acrylic is gesso. so yes, acrylic gesso primed. most cheap canvas is exactly that.
semir hamzic
hello is it ok to use sanding paper to get even a smoother surface i saw one artist making their canvas that way. they sand it and apply then a layer of gesso
@andreat
3mo
Is it ok to use liquitex gray gesso and skip the white gesso?
Morgan Weistling
yes, if you want more canvas texture then go ahead. Normally on portraits texture of canvas can be difficult to fight.
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Award winning fine artist represented by @legacygalleryart in Scottsdale AZ
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