Questions About Gesso on Canvas

Creative Arts
#1

I’m not much of a painter, so assume I know nothing…

I’m using stencils on canvas and I’ve heard that gessoing the canvas will give me an even surface to paint on if I use several layers and sand in between.

This is important to me because if the surface is uneven my stencils will allow paint to bleed under.

Does anyone have advice on brands to use or avoid?

Any other tips for masking on canvas?

I’ve just been vinyl cutting my stencils, and in the past I’ve spray painted them but now that I live in an apartment it’s less of an option. Also it was just too messy so I’m moving to acrylic, but I’ve had issues with my stencils pulling up previous layers, or my paint running under my stencils.

#2

You could also try painting on a smooth hard surface such as a properly prepared wood panel.

#3

I’ve preferred that in the past, but I’m trying to go bigger for my next series.

Right now I’ve got a few 2’x4’ canvases, and if they were any other material they would be too heavy.

#4

They make large but very thin sheets of wood veneer that might be mounted on a canvass. 4’X8’ is only 2.8 pounds so 4’X2’ should be less than a pound.

#5

Ok, so Gesso basically just adds more “teeth” to the canvas for your paint to stick to. Its not really bumpier in any visible way. But even with untreated canvas you’ll get bleeding if you’re not super careful. Canvas from craft places like Michael’s and Hobby Lobby have often been treated with something that can make it hard to get the paint to stick to the canvas smoothly.

For your application, I would treat the canvas with gesso, then your background color. Let that completely dry. Then attach your stencil and paint the background color again through the stencil. Let it dry without removing the stencil (you can speed this up with a hair dryer or air gun). Then paint your intended stencil color. This makes it so that if the stencil has gaps that would cause bleeding its the background that bleeds into the background color (thus not being really a visible bleed).

This method has made it so that nine times out of ten I get a great stencil. If you do mess up and bleed just remember that you can paint completely over that with your background color and start again.

Ninja Edit: Also, I like to use wax paper or vinyl as a stencil on canvas because it sticks better. With wax paper when you attach it to the canvas you can take a hair dryer or heat gun and melt the wax a bit so that it really sticks to the canvas and then when you’re done you can peel it off. This method isn’t as useful if you want a reusable stencil, though.

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#6

You can try using mod podge. Put your stencil down, paint a layer of mod podge and let dry. Tip- when you paint it on, go from the outside of the stencil to the inside to seal the stencil. Once its dry you can paint your color.

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#7

Great description and very helpful.

Thoughts on thick vs. thin gesso? Any particular brand?

#8

Thanks for the advice!

I’ve been using vinyl exclusively because my hand skills are pretty bad. Even if I traced my pattern onto wax paper and cut by hand the lines would not be nearly as clean as I’m going for.

I’m not at all concerned with reusability since these are one off pieces.

I’ve even considered clear coating the piece between layers to prevent my vinyl from peeling up previous layers.

In the past when I let everything dry the vinyl tends to pull everything off of the canvas. I’ve bought low-tack vinyl in the past to combat this with mixed results.

From what I’ve read, gesso might help me with this issue, and I’m definitely going to experiment on smaller pieces before tackling my big 2x4 ft canvases.

@John_Marlow got my next questions about consistency and brand.

If I’m thinning my gesso should I just use water?

#9

Have you tried freezer paper? I wonder how that would work?

I use it for appliqué templates and iron it onto fabric. The freezer paper can easily be laser cut.

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#10

I like Liquidtex Pro, which is a thinner gesso that’s at a reasonable price point (and can be bought with coupons at Michael’s), but then I’m just an amateur painter and nothing I do is really “archival” quality. I learned most of what I know from The Art Sherpa (Cinnamon Cooney), who has a really great set of educational videos and tutorials including this one specifically on gesso.

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#11

Freezer paper should work too, but its less pliable than regular wax paper and has less wax on it. As a result it doesn’t stick quite as tightly. I’ve also seen people online cut some spare vinyl transfer tape they had to make a stencil (although I’ve never tried it).

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#12

!!! Why did I not consider this!

I guess I just quit thinking about the laser since I can’t cut vinyl on it. This would be perfect for the larger areas that I need blocked off since freezer paper should be cheaper and easier to manage over large areas.

I’m still interested in hearing peoples protips on using gesso.

Thanks @BarkingChicken for the idea of painting my BG color before the stencil, I had never considered that. Also thanks for the link! I can’t wait to get started on these pieces!

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#13

Vinyl, wax paper, and freezer paper can all be cut on the Silhouette Cameo if you don’t need anything bigger than the 12" by 12" mat. If you’re interested keep an eye out for my next Silhouette Basics class, otherwise there are many, MANY decent tutorials that you can find on youtube to get you started. The machine requires no training to operate so you can work at your own pace.

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#14

Are you using acrylic paint or oil?

#15

My canvases are 2 foot by 4 foot, so I’m going to search for a 2ft roll of wax paper.

I took your first Silhouette class, you did a great job at teaching! I definitely recommend the class for others interested in that machine.

When I lived at my old place I was using anything and everything. Primarily spray paint due to the vibrant colors and also I’m lazy/bad at blending.

Now I’m switching over to acrylic with brushes and maybe an airbrush for finer details.

#16

Acrylic will skin if you apply it too thickly, but if you let your background color dry just enough to paint over it without smearing it and then paint your top color you can lift the stencil carefully while the top color is still wet and it should let you without lifting.

Oil and spray paints are kind of a different set of beasts entirely, and ones that I don’t have much experience with.

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#17

I don’t have the patience for oil paints and I no longer have the room for spray paint. (also I got sick of my nozzles always clogging and never did figure out how to prevent it.)

When you say “skin” I’m not sure if I know the meaning of that word in this context.
I assume you mean skin as in the kind you get on a broccoli & cheese soup if you let it sit too long?

#18

Exactly like that. The top will start to solidify before the paint below it does, so if you paint too thick a blob the top will look dry but the paint underneath it will still be wet. Once acrylic is completely dry it will become almost like a flimsy plastic. This is a problem if you have a stencil under it and need to remove it, and is why you’re getting that lifting effect when you peel off the stencil. Gesso should help with that because the paint should want to adhere to the gesso more than the stencil (which is presumably smoother than the gesso and has less “teeth”).

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#19

I second liquitex for an economic option. Grumbacher is a brand I like but a little more expensive.
If its peeling, your layers are too thick. You could always run a light handed xacto blade over it if that happens.
I’m curious what you’re making!

Edit: what about airbrushing?

#20

Nothing fancy, mainly geometric designs that I find aesthetically pleasing.
I’ve had awful luck with airbrushing so far. My cleaning to painting ratio has got to be 3:1 or worse. Looking forward to the airbrush class on the calendar.

Here’s the only pics I could find online of my paint stencil stuff.

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