Preparing a Smooth Canvas for Painting - Oil or Acrylic

[@bri6064]

This tutorial is a few years old, but thank you so much for making it! Canvass texture is one of the things that irks me the most when painting, and I've been contemplating something like this for a while (especially after seeing the up charge for the barely smoother ones). Its a lot simpler than I thought, so it looks like I'll be trying it soon!~

[@LeeRaldar]

Thanks for the excellent demo, just what I was looking for =D

[@MelissaMancusoArt]

Glad to help!

[@meerabakshi2676]

nice demo. You should have shown the final result keeping the canvas against the light in such a way that one can see the shinning finish. Thanks.

[@EvanDahill]

I usually add about 1/4 water to my mixture to guarantee that the gesso gets into the thread spaces.

[@itsmethatguy575]

Thank you for the knowledge!

[@olgaurueta542]

You: i dont have that kinda time!!!!! Me: Gurl it takes 3 hrs to start to color, lol but all aside Great Tutorial....👍🏻👍🏻💞

[@SDArtsSculptures]

Very helpful video.i will go with Liquitex Gesso. Liked and subscribed your channel :)

[@lateblossom]

Thank you for this!

[@vonlossberg]

Good one Melissa! Thanks so much!

[@davka408]

Thanks for your video! I have a partially painted that has developed some bumps and ridges that I would like to smooth out. Do you think I should apply gesso to the areas first or just sand down the ridges without adding gesso? I would like to retain the texture of the canvas if possible. Thanks in advance.

[@ababy6074]

Hi, don't you think you might be spending more on gesso even though you're getting cheaper canvases? And the time factor seems like a lot.

[@MelissaMancusoArt]

It only takes a few minutes :) It really depends on your budget (gesso is not expensive, high quality smooth canvases can be) and whether you decide you want to change the texture of a canvas that you have already bought. This method works if you want to make your canvas (regardless of price) a little smoother for detailed work, or if you (like me) started out with much cheaper canvases to practice on and wanted a different surface as you improve. :)

[@blueeeside4058]

a bottle of gesso lasts a long while , a smooth canvas can go up to 20 meanwhile the cheap one can cost 5 , i’d rather do this whole process to be honest

[@rhyannonp8231]

do you ever use one of the tools for smoothing wallpaper to spread gesso?

[@jgcelis]

Hi Melissa, great video. I usually buy the Michaels' brand canvas and recently I read that they come with a coat of antifungal that makes them a bit shiny and hard for the oil paint to stick (totally my experience). Having said that, do you wipe the canvas before applying the first coat of gesso to remove that "sheen", or do you just apply the gesso without doing any wiping? Thanks!

[@MelissaMancusoArt]

I haven't wiped any of mine (and haven't had issues), but I've heard that other artists have wiped down their canvases before using them

[@jgcelis]

Hi Melissa, I just applied liquitex gesso a canvas I bought at Michael's and I used one of those poly foam brushes. However, it created some many streak lines. Not sure what I could possibly have done wrong. I suppose I can use one of those craft sponges like the one you are using instead but I'd appreciate any advice. Thanks!

[@jalalali74]

Thank you for the video. Is it enough to use gesso? I have read somewhere that you need to mix gesso and modeling paste

[@MelissaMancusoArt]

You could do either!

[@buckhouse100]

I called the Liquitex company and spoke with a representative about sanding one of my paintings. I was told that it is extremely dangerous to sand acrylic paint of any type, including gesso. It is harmful to your lungs. Too many people think this is a safe practice. I hope you can find a safe way to smooth out your canvases.

[@OurGentleJourneys]

That is interesting. I have never heard of it being dangerous. I will be looking into this.

[@citrus4419]

just wear a mask or use a small fan. Really as long as you’re not putting your face in front of the canvas and inhaling it then you should be perfectly fine.

[@jh48167]

Maybe outdoors, wearing a mask?

[@king-ci4ob]

Good......

[@veenavaishnav815]

I bought liquetex clear gesso transparent can I use it to prepare my canvas for acrylic painting ?

[@rakhati]

Yes, colored gesso just has pigment in it, transparent gesso is the same thing as any other gesso

[@nataliamalewicz8622]

Can you do this after the sketch?

[@MelissaMancusoArt]

Adding gesso or sanding down the canvas will more than likely make your drawing disappear. I would wait until after applying the gesso to sketch :)

[@scott8191]

I have put Matisse transparent gesso over an underdrawing in the past.

[@meerabakshi2676]

@@MelissaMancusoArt When I was learning how to use oil colors, my instructor used to apply some layer after the student finish the basic sketching of the picture his student wanted to work on. And with that layer applied, the student can not erase those pencil marks with regular rubber. Well, of course, we can correct using other thin color using as a basic drawing.

[@johnsmall4318]

With the price of three thick layers of Liquitex gesso you could buy a pretty high quality canvas, no? And that's if you ignore the value of your time...hmmm

[@MelissaMancusoArt]

I painted thin layers of gesso, which isn't expensive. Professional canvases can get quite expensive, and if you're just starting out this is a good way to save some money while you're practicing. I have only used this method in the past with student-grade canvases that I bought before moving onto higher quality canvases.

[@gideonros2705]

I think sanding an acrylic gesso is waste of time. You really aren’t going to sand it because its such a rubbery surface. Thanks for sharing.

[@meerabakshi2676]

I have not used liquitex gesso, but someday will give it a try. I love to do portraits and for portraits having such a smooth surface would help a lot. Once I got canvases pack of 6 that were too shiny and no color would stick to the surface and it took very long time to dry. Don't know what I did with those canvases. I might have thrown away! 😀 I did not know about gessoing at that time! Well, if that happens now, I would definitely try gesso!

[@dcassolis2157]

This video s too dark to see what you’re doing.