Sunday, April 03, 2011

Getting ready to get ready


Having a full, well almost a full, bucket of acrylic gesso I decided it was time to gesso some wood and masonite in anticipation of putting some paintings on them.  Somewhere I had read a small sponge roller works well with gesso and I did think it worked very well.  Although being new to oil painting I'm not really sure what texture I should be looking for to paint on ... so this looked great to me after I gave the supports three coats.  I had one masonite piece and forgot to paint the back or at least put an X of gesso on the back.  I also had two 9" x 9" wood panels and 8 small 3.5" x 3.5" wood supports.  On one of the 9" x 9" I did adhere some canvas to it and the other I left just gessoed.  Now I think I'll put a coat of gesso on the canvas as well as the back of the masonite I forgot.  So being I'm new at this ... do any of you have tips or thoughts that I should do next time?

6 comments:

  1. What you have here is . . . a gesso party! That's what I call it whenever I do this because it's such a job. Do you sand between the coats of gesso? Other than that, I can't think of anything else. Have fun!

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  2. Thanks Linda ... No, I did not sand between coats. I didn't even think of it. I'll make sure to sand before I paint on the surface.

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  3. Anonymous11:15 PM

    I never sand between the coats of gesso and I know a few painters who never do it.
    I prefer the brushes to gesso my boards or wood panels.
    Now you are ready to paint. I am looking forward to see your new paintings !

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  4. Thank you Helene, I'm assuming that there is no wrong way to gesso my supports. Could it be its only wrong if I don't use them now, lol. It is good to know that different artists have different methods.

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  5. Great to see you are really getting into oils! I experimented with different boards and gesso/acrylic medium/shellac too. I found that masonite wasn't one of my favorites. You will have decide how smooth you like to paint on, or whether you like texture. I don't like the cheap cotton canvas boards - too rough. I like to play on mat board coated with gesso and then make sure you coat the back with either acrylic medium or a regular latex paint to seal it. I also like the YES! Canvas panels the best for plein air, but you have to order them online in a box of 12:
    http://www.aswexpress.com/discount-art-supplies/canvas-and-boards/panels/yes.html

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  6. Oh, and the gesso is a bit rough on your brushes because it feels a little like sand. I don't tend to treat my brushes nicely!

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