Raw canvas does not have any priming treatment done prior to painting on it so it may require more work in order for your paints to stick properly.
Can You Use Watercolor On Canvas Without Gesso? Don’t Do This Mistake
I’ve seen and read a lot of conflicting information over the years. This is my attempt to answer this question. If you’re an artist who uses watercolor, this will help you decide whether or not you need to use a primer before applying your paint. Can you use watercolor on canvas without gesso?
Yes, you can use watercolor on canvas without gesso. However, the result will be disappointing. The drawback of using watercolor on a canvas without gesso is that the paint will not be absorbed as well as it would on canvas that has been prepared with gesso. This means that you have to be careful when applying your first layer of paint!
While I hope this short explanation gave you an insight into using watercolors on canvas, do keep reading to have a better understanding of the topic. I’m going to talk about priming the canvas, different watercolor canvases, and more!
Table Of Contents
- Do you need to prime a canvas for watercolor?
- The best canvas for watercolor
- FAQ
- What happens if you use watercolor on a normal canvas?
- Can you paint watercolor on raw canvas?
- What is gesso made of?
- Final thoughts
Do you need to prime a canvas for watercolor?
Watercolor paintings are among the most popular of all art forms. Artists love the freedom and spontaneity of this medium, while collectors enjoy the bright colors and unique textures that watercolors create.
But can you use watercolor on canvas without gesso?
Well, watercolors need more support from the material – something to absorb the water and hold it. Canvas is more liquid resistant and it won’t hold the watercolors.
If you want to create your own watercolor painting on a canvas, you’ll need to know how to prime the canvas for watercolor before you start.
If you haven’t done any painting on canvas before, you may wonder if it’s necessary to prime your canvas for watercolor.
The answer is yes! You cannot simply paint directly onto a bare canvas because it will bleed as you add even a small amount of moisture to the surface.
This is why I recommend priming the regular canvas with gesso – and I’m very passionate about it!
The best canvas for watercolor
The best watercolor canvas is the one that works best with your style and artistic vision. What is the best canvas for watercolor?
Watercolor canvas is the ultimate choice for artists who want to create the look and feel of a watercolor painting.
Watercolor canvas is a cotton fabric that has been coated with a layer of gesso and stretched over a wooden frame. This allows it to absorb the paint, resulting in a unique effect that you can only get from painting on this type of canvas.
If you’re just starting out, you can use any type of paper or cotton fabric as a canvas; however, if you plan on doing a lot of watercolor painting, it’s worth investing in some high-quality materials.
Canvas board is a type of paper made from wood pulp and cotton linters that are glued together before being pressed with heat and pressure. Canvas boards can be found in a variety of thicknesses.
The thicker the board is, the better it will hold up against warping over time – but it won’t feel as soft under your brushstrokes as a thinner piece would be.
Can you use watercolors on a normal canvas?
Reader Question: Can you use watercolors on a normal canvas? How about on a gessoed canvas? I’ve been enjoying painting on watercolor paper but I like the way canvas can hang on the wall without a frame.
If you want to paint with watercolors on canvas, I’d suggest that you paint on a watercolor canvas. Watercolor canvases are a fairly new invention, and they are perfect for artists who like to work in watercolors but also like the look and feel of canvas. As you can see below, you can get watercolor canvas in several different forms: stretched canvas, canvas boards, and canvas pads.
I’ve provided links below to the relevant products so that you can easily find them on Blick Art Materials, my favorite online art supplier. I’m a member of Blick’s affiliate program, which means if you make a purchase after clicking on one of these links, I’ll receive a small commission (at no extra cost to you). Your purchase helps support this site and keeps it free of ads. Click here for more info.
Normal canvas, even if it has been gessoed, is generally not absorbent enough to work well with watercolors. The watercolors would lift off too easily, which would make blending or overlaying colors particularly difficult. There’s a way to do it, using Golden Absorbent Ground, which you can learn about here.
Now let’s talk about watercolor canvas.
Painting on watercolor canvas is a different experience than painting on watercolor paper, so there may be a learning curve as you first start out. For instance, the watercolors will stay wet longer on the watercolor canvas than they will on paper. Plus, even though the watercolor canvas is coated with a gesso that is specially formulated for use with watercolors, the surface is still not as absorbent as watercolor paper.
To get the most out of watercolor canvas, you might want to make your first painting on watercolor canvas an experiment, so you can test out different techniques and take note of how the watercolors react to the canvas. This can save you from making lots of mistakes when you paint a “real” painting on watercolor canvas.
Many artists prefer working on watercolor canvases rather than watercolor paper because it means they can hang the finished painting directly on the wall, without needing to frame it under glass. If you do this, be sure to protect your finished watercolor painting with a spray sealant, such as Krylon Crystal Clear. This will form a protective final coat over your painting, similar to a varnish.
The characteristics of watercolor ground on canvas
The properties of canvas primed with watercolor ground is very similar to the ready-made watercolor canvas I tried.
The surface remains wet for longer so the flow of pigment can be moved around and played with more than watercolor paper.
You can lift out paint and go back to lighter tones in the same way and tones can be adjusted by scrubbing back with a damp brush. Once again lifting makes glazing difficult.
One thing I did find is that edge details were a little harder to control. Absorbent ground seems to have a tendency to bloom when laying fresh washes, and there’s some bleeding at the edges with the absorbent ground.
Watercolor ground has another benefit for everyday watercolor work. You can use it to correct mistakes which would otherwise be difficult to do on watercolor paper. A thin layer takes you back to a surface like paper so you can repaint or repair flaws in your work.
Watercolor paper vs canvas
The surfaces you paint on are the foundation, the source of light and brightness of your paintings. The transparent nature of watercolors is best suited to a light toned surface, but the texture of the surface adds character and richness to your artwork.
Watercolor paper or canvas both bestow a distinctive grain to the painting surface.
Here’s a quick comparison of the two substrates:
| Watercolor canvas: | Watercolor paper: |
|---|---|
| The surface of watercolor canvas stays wet slightly longer giving you more time to manipulate and play with your paint. | Watercolor paper has been the established support for water based media for centuries, and for good reason. |
| Dry layers of paint can be lifted very easily making corrections and adjustments simple. | It perfectly absorbs the paint and helps fix the pigments to its surface. |
| Using watercolor ground you can use any normal canvas and turn it into a surface that accepts watercolors. | Paper is well adapted to any style or technique of watercolor painting making it the most versatile kind of surface for watercolor. This includes Glazing of course, which is a fundamental technique on watercolor paper. |
| The easy lifting properties of canvas make it difficult to glaze. You need to work quickly to avoid underlying layers mixing. | Comes with a variety of textures each with more or less pronounced tooth. |
| It can be difficult to get hard crisp edges. | Hard edged details are easy to achieve. |
| Pre-stretched canvas doesn’t curl or warp and you don’t have to frame your paintings Canvas is hard-wearing and resilient. |
Lifting is also possible with watercolor paper, but more so with hot pressed than cold pressed. |
| For best results paper needs stretching before painting. | |
| Artist quality watercolor paper is “archival” and acid-free so your paintings will last for generations to come ! |
How about doing your next watercolor on canvas ?
Whichever way you choose to use canvas, it’s relatively inexpensive and contributes a unique texture to your finished work.
Using canvas as a support for watercolors is a very different experience to conventional watercolor paper. There’s a bit of a learning curve when you first try using canvas when you’re accustomed to paper. But canvas is fun to use – it’s easy to manipulate the paint even when dry – and lifting paint off the surface is incredibly easy compared to paper.
I suggest you treat your first canvas paintings purely as an experiment and see if you like the properties of a canvas surface.
Above all, have fun with it !
