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Art Supplies
Updated August 31, 2025
Gesso
Gesso prepares surfaces like canvas or wood for painting. It creates a smooth, non-absorbent layer that helps paint stick better.
Category
Art Supplies
Use Case
Used as a primer for painting surfaces to create a smooth, absorbent ground
Variants
Traditional gesso, Acrylic gesso
Key Features
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Smooth Surface for Painting
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Priming Layer for Artwork
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Adhesive Base for Canvas
In Simple Terms
What it is
Gesso is a special type of white paint primer. Think of it like a primer coat you might put on a wall before painting it your favorite color. It’s a creamy, liquid mixture that artists apply to surfaces like canvas, wood, or paper before they start their actual painting. Its main job is to create a smooth, sealed, and slightly textured surface that regular paint can easily stick to.
Why people use it
Using gesso provides several everyday benefits that make the painting process much easier and improve the final result. Without it, paint can soak into a raw canvas, making colors look dull and weak, or it can peel and crack over time. Gesso acts as a protective barrier. It also makes the surface brighter, which helps the colors you paint on top appear more vibrant and true to life. Essentially, it prepares the ‘foundation’ so your artwork has the best chance to look great and last a long time.
Basic examples
Imagine you want to paint a beautiful landscape on a blank canvas. If you painted directly onto the rough fabric, it would drink up your expensive paint, and the colors would look faded. By applying a layer or two of gesso first, you create a perfect, uniform white surface that is ready to hold your paint. Here are a few simple ways it helps in real life:
It prevents paint from being absorbed, saving you paint and money.
It gives you a bright white background, making your colors pop.
It provides a little tooth or texture for the paint to grip onto, giving you better control with your brushstrokes.
It protects the canvas or wood from the acids in the paint, preventing the material from deteriorating.
Gesso is a special type of white paint primer. Think of it like a primer coat you might put on a wall before painting it your favorite color. It’s a creamy, liquid mixture that artists apply to surfaces like canvas, wood, or paper before they start their actual painting. Its main job is to create a smooth, sealed, and slightly textured surface that regular paint can easily stick to.
Why people use it
Using gesso provides several everyday benefits that make the painting process much easier and improve the final result. Without it, paint can soak into a raw canvas, making colors look dull and weak, or it can peel and crack over time. Gesso acts as a protective barrier. It also makes the surface brighter, which helps the colors you paint on top appear more vibrant and true to life. Essentially, it prepares the ‘foundation’ so your artwork has the best chance to look great and last a long time.
Basic examples
Imagine you want to paint a beautiful landscape on a blank canvas. If you painted directly onto the rough fabric, it would drink up your expensive paint, and the colors would look faded. By applying a layer or two of gesso first, you create a perfect, uniform white surface that is ready to hold your paint. Here are a few simple ways it helps in real life:
Technical Details
What It Is
Gesso is a white paint mixture, traditionally consisting of a binder mixed with chalk, gypsum, pigment, or any combination of these. It is categorized as a preparatory ground or primer used in artistic practices, particularly in painting. Its primary purpose is to create a uniform, slightly absorbent, and textured surface on a substrate, such as a wooden panel or canvas, to ensure proper paint adhesion and prevent support-induced discoloration.
How It Works
The mechanism of gesso involves creating a physical and chemical barrier between the paint and the support material. When applied, the liquid mixture fills the microscopic pores of the canvas or wood. As it dries through evaporation of its water or solvent content, the binder (such as acrylic polymer or rabbit skin glue) forms a durable, flexible film that binds the filler particles (like calcium carbonate) to the surface. This film is slightly toothy, providing a textured grip for subsequent paint layers, and it isolates the paint from the acidic or oil-rich support, preventing degradation and discoloration over time. Modern acrylic gesso uses synthetic polymer emulsions as the binding technology, which dry quickly and remain flexible.
Key Components
The key components of traditional gesso are a binder and a filler. The classic hide glue gesso uses rabbit skin glue as the binder and an inert white powder like chalk or gypsum as the filler. Modern acrylic gesso substitutes the animal-based glue with an acrylic polymer emulsion as the binder and uses a similar filler, often calcium carbonate, along with titanium dioxide for whiteness and opacity. Other common additives include preservatives to prevent spoilage in water-based formulas and agents to adjust viscosity.
Common Use Cases
Gesso is predominantly used as a preparatory ground for painting on various surfaces.
Preparing raw canvas or linen for oil or acrylic painting to prevent the paint from soaking into the fibers and to protect them from the oil's acidity.
Priming wooden panels for tempera, oil, or acrylic painting, creating a smooth, white surface ideal for detailed work.
Providing a base layer on paper, cardboard, or other materials before applying heavy body paints to prevent warping and improve color vibrancy.
Creating a textured surface for mixed media art, as it can be applied thickly and sanded smooth or left with brush marks.
Used in art conservation to reline and restore damaged paintings, providing a new stable ground.
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