Gesso: The Magic Sealer ✨

Gesso can be traditional gesso or acrylic gesso. Here we will speak of acrylic gesso.

• What is acrylic gesso? It is an important art supply to prime the canvas and get it ready for painting.

• Types of acrylic gesso: It can be colored, colorless, diluted or thick, spray or tube or tub, artist-grade or student grade

• How important it is to gesso the canvas? If the canvas is pre-primed, you can skip this step and start painting right away. Unless to feel a need to gesso it. If the canvas is not primed and canvas lacks tooth and absorbency, give it a coat.

• Why gesso? It makes the canvas surface very easy to paint by adding a smooth surface for the paint to blend and flow. 

• Best brush for gesso: Use flat brushes for gesso. The bigger the canvas, the wider the brush. They need not be of amazing quality. Average quality would do. You can also find them at any dollar- store.

• How to apply gesso: Wet the brush with water and tap dry it with a rag or paper towel. Either tube gesso drops on the canvas or brush it out from the tub. Spread it out evenly on the canvas (as shown in video). The layer must be thin enough to absorb to the surface. If you feel its thick scrape off extra gesso with a scraper. Let it dry. Depending on the smoothness of canvas you can repeat the process twice or thrice. Otherwise, one layer is good. Gesso spray is also available in the market, if you throw in dollars the process gets convenient.

• Tips with gesso: Student-grade gesso is more liquid as compared to artist-grade gesso which has comparatively more medium and is more viscous.. Thick consistency of gesso may make lumps and thick bumps coming on the canvas which are only good if you want to add texture to the painting. In that case, you may dilute gesso with water, add water to gesso brush or sprinkle water on canvas before adding gesso.