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“. I wished to live deliberately. and not, when I came to die, discover that I have not lived.” —Henry David Thoreau
How to Prime Canvas for Painting
Eventually, most artists will want to prime their own canvas to create custom sizes and to save money verses purchasing pre-stretched canvas. There are many different steps in creating a quality work that could become a famous piece of artwork, right down to the initial stages of building a canvas. Priming your canvas properly is very important. This will protect the canvas from the deteriorating effects when suing oil paints. Oil, alkyd and acrylic paints will properly adhere and be supported by a canvas that has been correctly primed. Sealing and priming are imperative in preparing your canvas.
Before applying the first stroke of your brush, you must learn to prime your canvas. Priming will cause a neutralization of the natural tan hue in the material which will prevent it from altering the color of the completed painting. Priming helps to create a smooth, non-porous surface with a finished look that is more even. In the following, there are some basic tips and suggestions for learning to properly prime an artist’s canvas.
Required Tools and Materials
If you are a beginner, it may be difficult to determine exactly what tools and materials will be needed to prime your canvas. As with all aspects of creating a work of art, you will find practice is needed and will lead to this becoming an essential part of the painting process. You will need:
- Roll canvas and stretcher strips to create your painting surface. Recommended brands for roll canvas include Artfix, Caravaggio, Claessens, & Fredrix. Fredrix canvas rolls tend to be a little less expensive then the other brands mentioned making their products a great choice for beginners or students.
Canvas Stretcher Bars by Best
Fredrix Canvas Roll
- Gesso is a popular choice of primer. It has a thick white liquid consistency. This type of primer is readily available in all art supply stores and online. There are many other types of primer to choose from, but acrylic gesso is the most popular. Some are clear and others have a tint of color.
Golden Acrylic Gesso for Priming Canvas Painting Surfaces
- Paint stirrers will be needed to mix Gesso with water or thinning agent.
- A plastic container with ample size for adding thinning agent as needed.
- Gesso brushes for application which should have nylon bristles making for ease of cleaning.
Princeton Gesso Brush
- Water will be needed to make spreading the Gesso easier as it was act as a thinning agent.
- Fine grain sandpaper will be used for sanding between layers of primer.
Fine Sandpaper to Smooth Painting Surface if Desired
- Soft, clean cloth is needed for wiping away the dust from sanding before adding the next layer of Gesso.
Priming Instructions
Always keep in mind that once Gesso has dried, it will no longer be water soluble. You should always maintain your Gesso brush in a damp condition. This will prevent Gesso from adhering to the bristles of your brush as well. You should never pour primer down a drain in your sink. It will dry quickly and clog the drain. You should try to work quickly and immediately clean your brush.
Diluting the primer will be the first step in priming a canvas. For a rougher texture on your canvas, you may want to use only one application of Gesso that has not been diluted. Smoother finishes will be created using two thinly applied coats of primer that has been diluted. Most use water to dilute primer. By following the manufacturer’s instructions, you can get the right ratio for dilution. If too much water or thinning agent is added to primer, the canvas may crack once it has been allowed to dry. Gesso should not be diluted in the original container and primer that has not been used should never be placed back into the original container. Simply throw away any unused portion of Gesso.
After diluting the Gesso, you are ready to begin applying the mixture to your canvas. Your first coat will need to be applied form left to right using brush strokes that are parallel. Brush the second coat of Gesso from top to bottom.
A first coat of primer will need to dry for sixty minutes or longer and then sanded using your fine grain sandpaper. Be sure to wipe the dust from sanding with a clean, soft damp cloth before beginning to apply the second coat.
Once the second coat has been applied, it should dry for a full twenty-four hours or more before you begin to paint. Place the primed canvas on a flat surface to prevent running of the Gesso while it is still wet.
Although there are many techniques for priming, this is one of the most common especially among beginning artists. Some more accomplished artists often prepare and prime their canvases and allow them to stabilize for months before actually using them.
How to prime a canvas for oil paint
If you really want to save money, you can skip the canvas and paint on hardboard instead. But if you must have the texture of canvas, as I know many people prefer it especially if working large, then I agree with the other comments. ~!Carey
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“. I wished to live deliberately. and not, when I came to die, discover that I have not lived.” —Henry David Thoreau
July 23, 2007 at 8:35 am #1087361
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Of course I don’t know Killz, not available here in Holland, but my old teacher in art class used to brag about the cheapest white wall paint one can get in DIY store, because the cheap variants always contain a lot of the chalck. I guess he could be right with 40 of experience as an artist. Personally I’d stick to gesso, just to bet on safe. Like Konrad Adenauer said: Keine Experimente!
July 23, 2007 at 9:10 am #1087359
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I have used KILZ on panels (hardboard) but wouldn’t recommend it for canvas. For canvas, a 100 percent acrylic house paint would work better as a substitute for acrylic gesso. They both have the same basic composition, starting with the acrylic vehicle, and many times exterior house paints have the added advantage of containing mildew/mold inhibitors. I once used exterior acrylic house paint exclusively for priming my canvases. I now use only professional grade acrylic “gesso” simply because it’s much thicker than house paint and covers the weave in two applications. :thumbsup:
July 23, 2007 at 2:29 pm #1087357
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I guess he could be right with 40 [years] of experience as an artist.
Materials commonly available decades ago often no longer exist. Even materials with the same name have very different composition and can be manufactured by entirely different processes. I believe Ralph Mayer mentions that white lead in linseed oil can be obtained from the hardware store under the Dutch Boy brand name. I’d be very wary of following such old advice – from books or professors. I also wouldn’t be too naive about manufacturers of art materials but I do find Utrecht Acrylic Gesso to be an excellent product and at about $25 per gallon it’s a good value. I always have to dilute it a bit.
July 23, 2007 at 3:30 pm #1087354
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Thanks everyone for the insight. It seems the consesus weighs against using Kilz. I’ll just wait for a nice sale at Dick Blick and stock up on some acrylic gesso. What does everyone think about using drop cloth canvas? When I stretched it, it looked pretty snarky. But after a couple of coats of gesso it looked alright. What do you think?
July 23, 2007 at 3:41 pm #1087356
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I would use regular canvas from any art materials store before even considering drop cloths.. Has the drop cloth been treated to resist moisture?, how flimsy is it? Would anyone making drop cloths really care about longevity or material quality? So many questions for an issue that I think could easily resolved by using materials designed for the task at hand.
Donn Granros “If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went.” –Will Rogers
July 23, 2007 at 5:19 pm #1087353
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I’m not sure I’d want to use Killz or a similar product to prime a canvas or hardboard support simply because it seems to leave a slick, glossy surface that it might be hard to get paint to adhere to. I’m pretty sure that you would get minimal absorption into a Killz primed support. I have used exterior and interior latex paint (emulsion?) with good effect but I’d hate to be responsible for what might happen in 100 years. Frankly, there doesn’t seem to be any significant difference between quality latex gesso and quality latex house paint. You can get some really interesting toned grounds using tinted latex paint. For instance a standard white base coat paint tinted with red from a five gallon bucket of barn paint works well for green foliage and bright skies. One place I have used Killz is to over-paint an old canvas. The original painting doesn’t bleed through. Sand down the old surface to even out the brush strokes, hit it with a coat of Killz, sand that off a little to scarify the surface and hit it with a coat of gesso or what ever primer you generally use. Reusing a canvas satisfies the miserly streak that lurks in the heart of each of us.
