Gesso with a soft “G”

I’ll never forget the day I found out I had been pronouncing the word “gesso” incorrectly. I had been painting solely with watercolors and had signed up for LifeBook 2016. There was a list of supplies most of which I had never heard of before. Gesso was one of them, pronouncing it with a hard “g”. Off I went with the list to my local art store. Sounding like I knew what I wanted I asked for gesso. The salesperson gave me a puzzled look and then we both laughed! It’s been a few years since then but it always makes me chuckle inside. My first bottle lasted me 3 years and the second one less than a year, becoming one of my favorite supplies.

The Lowdown (aka Technical stuff)

What is gesso you may ask? The simple answer is it’s a very matte, opaque primer, but it’s so much more than that. Traditionally it’s used to prime surfaces like paper and canvas, but can prime cloth, wood and stone. It comes in predominantly white and black, but it also comes in clear and colored.

What is it used for?

For white, black & colored gessos: You can prime canvas/paper/wood before painting so that the product adheres well. It’s opaque which means it’s a great way to block out dark areas creating “white space”. It can be mixed with acrylic paint, acrylic ink, soft pastels, and any water-soluble crayons like Neo-color and Woody Stabilo crayons. Texture can be created by scratching into it, and by applying it with a sponge or coarse brush. It’s great to use through a stencil.

Clear gesso is different from the rest. It dries to a gritty matte see-through finish. Once dry it provides a toothy surface to accept dry media like graphite, charcoal, and pastels.

All gessos can be used under and over any water-based products. But it can only be used under oil-based products, not over, but some may argue this point!

Here’s another way to use gesso. If I want a light blue, I will use white gesso instead of white acrylic paint. Now why don’t I just use white acrylic paint? White gesso is less expensive than acrylic paint, and I prefer a matte finish. And because gesso dries to a matte chalky finish, dry media (like graphite, charcoal, and pastels) stick to the surface really well. Marks can be drawn easily whereas acrylic paint dries to a glossy plastic finish and is more difficult to “draw” on. The same applies to all gessos.