Gesso & Grounds

Artist & Craftsman Supply considers the foundation of your painting of prime importance. Those of us who live in old houses value solid foundations. The best colors on a shaky underpinning flake or crack, and are lost.

The traditional method was in two parts. The first part, glue, was the barrier that isolated acidic linseed oil from canvas, paper, or wood - but painters also wanted a smooth white surface - so an opaque white was added that also protected the support from sunlight.

Nowadays we try to combine the attributes of glue sizing and traditional white powder into one product. Modern acrylic gesso does five things at once : isolates the substrate from acidic oil, supplies cushion to stabilize the expansion and contraction of the subtrate, provides a bright white 'glow' in paintings, protects the substrate from light, and absorbs and adheres the paint.

Note that property number 1 requires non-absorption and property 5 requires the opposite. That's tough for one product to do. Can we have our cake and eat it too?