Preparing the canvas with gesso

The process of oil painting varies from artist to artist, but often includes many of the same steps. First of all, the artist prepares his surface of choice.

Panel is more expensive, heavier, harder to transport, and prone to warp or split in poor conditions, but for fine detail, the solidity of a wooden panel gives an advantage. Throughout  the 17th century and beyond many artists used panel. Panels are prepared with a gesso, a mixture of glue and chalk.

Surfaces like linoleum, wooden panel, paper, slate, pressed wood, or cardboard have all been used, but still the absolutely most popular surface since the 16th century has been canvas without any doubt.

Splined canvas is made from linen, but the less expensive cotton fabric has gained a lot off popularity as well.

Anyways, the artist first prepares a wooden frame called a ’stretcher’ or ’strainer’. The difference between the first and second is that stretchers are slightly adjustable, while strainers are rigid and lack adjustable corner notches. So please forget about the ’strainers’: don’t use them.
The canvas is then pulled across the wooden frame and tacked or stapled tightly to the back edge.

Traditionally, the canvas is first coated with a layer of animal glue (=size) and then primed with lead white paint, sometimes with added chalk.

So the artist first applies a ’size’ to isolate the canvas from the ‘acidic qualities’ of the paint.

Modern painters will use rabbit skin glue as a ’size’.

Modern acrylic ‘gesso’ is made of titanium dioxide with an acrylic binder. It is frequently used on canvas, whereas real gesso is not suitable for that application. The gesso layer will tend to draw the oil paint into the porous surface, depending on the thickness of the gesso layer.

The painter should apply a couple of layers of gesso, sanding each layer smooth after it has dried.

Acrylic gesso is a bit difficult to sand. It is very well possible to tone the gesso to a particular color, but most store-bought gesso is standard white.

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