How to Gesso a Wood Panel by Rachael McCampbell
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 25 ก.ค. 2024
- This is a video showing how to easily "size" and "gesso" a wooden panel using GOLDEN acrylic products to paint on by artist and teacher Rachael McCampbell. Knowing how to properly gesso a substrate is basic to any artist's repertoire. Rachael teaches workshops in the United States and abroad in acrylics, oil and cold wax medium. Rachael is passionate about sharing her knowledge about art with others and hopes her students experiment and have "fun with art." McCampbell's work is collected internationally. For more information go to her website: rachaelmccampbell.com/ and please subscribe to her newsletter to learn more about future classes, shows and workshops. rachaelmccampbell.com/contact/
On minute 4:15, I talk about using a squeegee to smooth the gesso out. The small gray squeegee I purchased from www.squeegeepress.com. They have a variety of sizes. The smallest one comes in red now which is better --harder to lose that way. coldwaxacademy.com/squeegees/
For the larger squeegee, the blue one, I bought that at messermeister.com:
www.messermeister.com/product... - แนวปฏิบัติและการใช้ชีวิต
Finaly : One VERY WELL DONE act of gessoing a panel !!!!!!!
Thank you so much, Romulus! I appreciate that. Happy painting to you!
So helpful. Thanks! I love this: "embrace the imperfections." As someone who is just really starting to get into painting, this is great advice! :)
Oh my gosh, I'm so happy that resonated with you. Yes, that is my daily mantra! The messiness of my life enters my artwork and people with less than perfect lives resonate with my artistic imperfections which is a lovely thing. So important to be exactly who you are and there will always be an audience of people who feel that, and want to own your art because of it too. I find that a blessing. Keep being YOU!
Please I need to know.. After applying white gesso can I use charcoal and pencil to draw portraits? @@mccampbellartstudio
Thank you for taking the time to do this. I've only used pre-gesso'd panels but am about to do my first try from scratch...
Thanks for explaining how to gesso on wood so clearly. I can do this now!
Thanks, this was super helpful! ❤
Best explanation ive found so far . Thanks
Thank you so much. I really appreciate you saying that!
Excellent tutorial! Incredibly helpful, truly appreciated it
Thank you so much!!!
Great tutorial!!
Very well presented and informative - liked and subscribed. Thanks, Rachel!
Thank you so much George. I appreciate that! I'm in the process of making a video on how to paint shadows. Stay tuned.
Very helpful, thank you.
Glad it was helpful! Thank you John!
Thank you Rachael, I am so pleased to see this as I am starting to paint on birch panels. I had no idea that you could use matte medium first. Great thinking, thank you!
You are so welcome! I hope you enjoy painting....it's so good for the soul!
Outstanding Rachael! You're so pretty and pleasant to listen to:) Painted on wood for decades, but never used Gac 100. Great tips!
Thank you Leah! I appreciate you tuning in and complimenting what I did....that means a great deal to me. I am working on several new videos now, so stay tuned and Happy New Year!
Thank you so much for posting this video as your instructions were clear, precise and easy to follow. I'm preparing a large wood panel for the first time and found this videi to be exactly what i needed. Plus.. you have hm great energy and prompted me to follow your work. Thank you!
Thank you so much, Loralie, for watching and for commenting! I really appreciate your kind words. I'm working on a video about painting shadows...hoping to get that out soon. Happy New Year to you!
Pleasent and perfect presentation..thx..plk
Thank you very much, Lakshmi. I appreciate that! Glad you enjoyed it and blessings to you.
Very helpful thank you!
Thank you so much!!! I appreciate your support! Have new videos I'm editing now...so stay tuned. :-)
Hi Rachel. Great video! I was Googling how to prep a wood panel for painting... to make a small Halloween door sign. Your video was the second I viewed. It really touched me. I feel silly because your video was about putting a primer on a wood panel, not some heart-wrenching story. Yet, your tone of voice and delivery was very captivating. And you ending with how the art shines through imperfections was really catchy. Thank you.
Marina, you are so sweet to write me and say such nice things! I appreciate that so much and hope you will look at some of my other instructional art videos. I'm trying hard to get a more of them out. Stay tuned and happy painting!!! If I can encourage people like you to paint, then my job is done! :-)
Fantastic instruction! ...love the idea of salvaging scrap wood!
Your artwork has a lovely calming effect and you are so purdy!! tyfs! xoxo
Thanks so much, Maria. I'm glad my art is calming....we all need that these days. :-)
@@mccampbellartstudio ...right? And we're actually looking to you, in the artworld to guide us along like never before (no pressure) ...lol 😊💖
@@mariad4183 Haha....If I can add one moment of respite through making art, then I'm so happy. I wish you a happy new year full of creativity and joy!
@@mccampbellartstudio ...thank you - you too! I'll toast to that! lol...Let's make it a good one :)
Thanks, Rachael, I need to try this!
Mary, I hope you will try to paint on wood panels...I think you will love it!
McCampbell Art Studio what brand do you use? I was on Dick Blick today and looking at them.
@@marymccampbellbell8042 It's their "Studio" line. But you can look at other makers too. Have you tried the gessoed Ampersand boards? I love wood panels the most though.
Hello congratulations, in my opinion, your method is correct. I also liked the sealing of the wood and the smooth surface of the gesso
Thank you Luciano!!!
Hi Rachael. tank you so much for this great tutorial. I see you used Fluid Matte Medium to size the panel, you think I can use PVA Size instead? I use PVA when on Stretched Canvas, but never used it on panels.
Thank you 🙏
Yes of course- you can draw with pencil and charcoal on a gessoed panel. 😊
Hello Rachel! Thank you for making, preparing a wood panel with gesso to look easy. Patience is a must and allowing enough time is paramount. I only once, have painted on a wood panel and soft pastel was my medium. Now I feel I must check with my customer to see if there have been any changes to the painting. It has been four-fives years since I have painted it. I did the two coats with the fine sanding in between.
Thanks Kathy. I hope your painting for you client is fine. There's so much involved in keeping a painting "archival." Proper panel preparation is only part the story. Fingers crossed that all is well with your artwork.
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Thanks so much for this video. I'm starting my first painting on marine plywood for a client, and yours is the first video I could find that truly gave the details of good prep to assure it would adhere to the wood. Thank you! *** Does the medium/gesso block any tannins coming through? I am also a furniture artist, and when I'm painting a piece of furniture a light color, I use a stain-blocking primer such as Kilz, to prevent wood tannins which can otherwise surface later as odd tints in random places in the furniture art. Do you never get any tannins coming through over time into your paintings? Much of my furniture art has enough texture and play going on that I don't worry about it, but this particular commission design has some single-color, lighter areas where tannins could cause a problem. And does it have to be liquid medium? If I don't have the liquid, will a regular gloss medium work? Thanks so much.
Tysm 💕🖤
Thank you.
Thank you, Joseph! Sorry I’m just now seeing your note. I appreciate that.
Thank you! very professional!! Do you need to gesso if you want to stain it? Will the wood still warp?
Thanks Amanda. Are you staining the front and then painting on top of stain? You can always use "clear gesso" by Liquitex and that way you can see the wood beneath and paint on top of that too.
This article explains it really well I think. www.craftyarts.co.uk/blog/2018/05/painting-on-wood-primer-sealer-or-do-i-use-both/
Thank you, I have some solid wood inset cabinet doors that would go in the dump, so I want to try to acrylic paint on them.
Hey there PJBK. I hope it works out for you. Make sure and sand the existing paint off before adding your gesso. Good luck with your project!
@@mccampbellartstudio I read all of your replies, helpful! Sand (all) the paint or just down ruff it up? Should I put the GAC on raw wood? If I sand it down that is what it would be. Thank you for your time! Your replies were very helpful
@@pjbk3838 I don't know what's on these cabinets but my guess is it's some sort of enamel or lacquer based paint that cabinetmakers use (you could research that) and if that is so, it's not an acrylic based product. It's a big no-no to paint acrylic gesso on top of oil based products and then paint with acrylic paint. A lot of people do it anyway but if being archival matters, I wouldn't risk it. So to be most pure about this, I'd sand down as much of that paint off as possible and then gesso on raw wood. You can use the GAC but if you don't have it, just use a good brand of gesso in 3 good layers--then paint. Good luck with this.
good video thank you
Thank you so much Hedrik!👍
Do u ever use uncradled wood panels- if so do you do both sides?
I like a smoother surface, and I have found that making my own gesso is the only way to achieve this- commercially bought gesso's do not have the leveling properties that are required to get a smooth brushed surface. Making a thicker mix, but having enough moisture to level is a delicate art by itself. When dealing with flatness of gesso, and the gypsum, chalk or whitening, this is a very calculated arrangement. The best way to apply is to roll it on very loosely, then brush it out as fast as possible with a large 4" brush or larger, and allow it to level itself thereafter, then, sand using 220 grit.
Hey Chris, have you ever considered producing the gesso you make and selling it to artists? I find gessoes range from too watery to too thick...yours sounds just right!
@@mccampbellartstudio No. There are several reasons for this: one is that I use woodglue and white glue in my mixes, as a PVA, woodglue is great to work with, however, the Tightbond brand is not known as a "archival" way to size a painting, nor is it known how long their PVA is going to last. I know it to be good for at least 100 years, but past that there is no evidence that it will be good for another 100, it is a more stabile way of providing ground, more dimensionally stable than RSG, but doesn't have the same reversibility as the RSG. All in all, I credit my work to outlast that of any latex or acrylic brand gesso, just for its rigid stability under the oil. I have no clue how long the gypsum and chalk and plaster will lengthen the gesso, so I can't even tell if there will be a saving grace to it. I do know that the PVA will yellow with time and become more brittle. How long , who is to say, I guess about 200 years and there will be some form of degradation to address.
I found canvas panels and canvas other types small sizes 8x10, 6x8, 5x7, and 4x6 at dollar tree stores, and always going there to get a lot plus cups with lids that can be thrown away I clean mine till can’t clean anymore, found squees bottles several sizes even Walmart has stuff for a artist painters, anyways Walmart has gesso called essential acrylic gesso by royal langnikel bright white matte finish, for got to get sandpaper, dollar tree store has bunch of goodies for painting, fairly nice soft brushes especially the 4-5” a squeeze windshield blade cleaning here in my city where I live, great place to even get glitter to acrylic 2oz bottles was surprise to see all kinds of goodies, cheap for my budget but every dollar tree dose have different stuff..My Art supply pit stop, building up my art studio, and move to a 2 bedroom apartment here in the same apartment complex a HUD housing, I live alone but have a special need’s for art therapy room…Yeah or move to a better location…Thank you for showing us beginners how to, one day I can share and show tricks I have learned, I have always been blessed with a gift of an artistic since as far as high school even grade school I just was born artistic, my DNA was passed down from generations of artistic minds even mechanical mind, what a gift 🎁 and thank God for all my gifts even musical anyways thanks
Keep painting....it brings so much joy to the one who is creating and to those who get to see it. Art supplies can be expensive. It sounds like you are sourcing them out quite well. Happy painting!!!
@@mccampbellartstudio thank you, I am getting a art therapy 2 bedroom apartment on HUD so have only been drawing coloring with colored pencils but have been stocking up on all kinds of art stuff everything from paper towels to paper toilet paper roll cardboard etc, even many tools so I will have fun setting up my art studio..
2:51 Just DON'T add water. In my case I used gesso directly but MADE the huge mistake of adding water to dilute it a bit., it all cracked and looked cool, but wasn't the desired effect I wanted. I have re-gessoed again Without water, hopefully it doesn't crack anymore. I have never used or tried wood panels, first time trying these and found your video after I had alreayd gessoed the panel. Hope I haven't ruined my panel. I will try your method and will buy the Golden Fluid Matte Medium. Thanks for this great information.
Hi there...thank you for your kind note. I don't really add water to gesso, I just use a water moistened brush to smooth things out. Depending on the gesso brand, it can get thick and hard to spread. But since gesso is a water based product (as opposed to oil) you can use a touch of water but you don't want to dilute it or you lose its effectiveness. Thanks so much for watching!
Thank you for share your knowledge and experience. I want to ask you if this kind of surface work if i want to paint with watercolor or fumage. It's soft enough or not. I'm trying to get a surface like ampersand panels. Thank you. Im from Argentina and i have a gallery in Pátzcuaro, México. It's open for artists from all over.
Hi there Maximo. I am not a watercolor painter but what I do know is that it's best to have a surface that has some absorbency to it. Gesso on a wood panel doesn't hold watercolor alone very well. There are fiber like coatings that you can use that have a more absorbent surface to take watercolor like GOLDEN"s Fiber Paste. You need to google that. Also, I've glued watercolor paper to wood panels and used india inks on it. But even though I did that, I put some gesso on the wood panel forst before gluing so that nothing from the wood would seep into the paper and stain it. I've heard of fumage, but I've never tried it. I'm going to add that to my list of things to try. Thank you for writing me.
I have a full woodworking shop and make cradled panels for my artist wife (as well as floating frames in every conceivable shape or species of wood). The Baltic bitch quality is so bad nowadays I have switched to cradled hardboard (formaldehyde free). Do you know if sizing and gesso is necessary, or can I just use STIXX primer then Golden Gesso?
Would be 1 coat of paint enough afterwards? Thank you!!
Hi there. Do you mean after you apply 3 layers of gesso is one coat of paint enough afterwards? That is a personal choice and what you are painting. I usually paint with 3 or 4 layers of paint because I like my paintings to be very complex. So, yes, you can do one coat of paint. Hope that helps.
Need I to coated with gesso or rabbit skin glue if I painted on plywood with egg tempera ( because plywood has on one side white color)? I am waiting for answering, thank you very much.
Sorry, I just now saw your questions. I am not an egg tempera artist nor do I paint on plywood and I don't use rabbit skin glue. So I don't feel qualified to answer your question. I hope you got your answers somewhere.
I want to acrylic pour on wood earrings. Should I gesso them as well to hold the paint? Would I treat it prior to gesso as you did with the large wood panel? My earrings are about 2 inches...round and teardrop..
Sorry, I just now saw your question. I think you should put gesso on all wood products to help the paint to adhere. Did you end up using gesso?
If you use clear gesso...does it turn streaky white when sanded?
Hi there. You know, I've never needed to sand clear gesso as it's quite watery....so I don't know the answer to that. Try it and let me know.
U BEST
Thank you so much!
Hello Rachel. I am very glad to find this video, I have some question about sizing my canvas. It is work to use fluid matte medium to sizing my cotton canvas ?, I mention spesificly to brand like liquitex fluid matte medium . That because its very hard to find any spesific product in my country to be use in sizing the surface. Thank you
Hi there. If you have a raw canvas, you can actually just put gesso directly on it without sizing it first. You can water down the first layer of gesso a little bit with either a touch of water or acrylic medium, then add your 3 coats and you will be fine. If you painting with oil on top of the gessoed canvas, then you might want to consider an oil gesso only because oil likes to adhere to oil rather than acrylic. But if you are painting with acrylic then you are good to go without sizing as well. I was demonstrating the perfect scenario, in my opinion, with sizing first. I don't know what country you are in but you do have gesso, correct? I hope this helps.
@@mccampbellartstudio beautifully answered :) . I live in Bali, Indonesia and yes I can find good quality gesso. I just studied oil painting and learn to prepared my own surface
@@i.brekha4532 Good for you. It's so important to get the base coat correct. I made a mistake once where I had prepped a board wit "Gamblin's Oil Ground" and didn't mark it on the back. Years later, I picked it up and painted a BIG acrylic painting which then peeled off in sheets! I had to sand it back down to the base and re-gesso it and paint with oil on top. HUGE lesson learned. Indonesia...that must be nice!
@@mccampbellartstudio must be very frustasted, but your experience can teach other people right now . If I use an acrylic gesso it’s still available for me to use oil color right ? . Thanks for replying
@@i.brekha4532 Oh YES!!!! You can. I'm just saying that let's say you want to do a painting in oil that is to last 400 years and you want it to be super archival, then it's best to paint oil on an oil gesso. But for normal usage, yes, oil on acrylic gesso is fine. Also, when you buy canvases or panels that already have gesso on them, sometimes they are so slick that they don't even hold the paint. Sometimes I lightly sand those panels and put one more coat of MY gesso on it that I know has a "chalkier" surface to it. I hope this helps you.
As you do not do both sides do you have a problem with warping?
Hi Nicole, I actually do paint both sides when it’s above say 11” x 14”. But often instead of spending a lot of money on gesso, I will use regular house primer, a couple of coats of it at least and I think that does the trick to prevent them warpage 👍 Thank you so much for watching!
Where do you get your floating frames?
I have someone make them in Nashville, or, for smaller ones, I've ordered them online. Just google float frames and you will see tons of different makers of them. Dick Blick also sells affordable ones that are pretty good. It all depends on what you like really. Have a blessed day.
Thank you for sharing! No matter how much I try, the brush I use to Gesso the panel leaves fine marks, and even after sanding, I still can't get a smoothe finish. It's so frustrating!
Ok, this is discussed a little bit in my video but I want to share a secret with you. There are different gessoes that do different things. I paint a lot on wood panels. Canvas has depth with the woven fibers and has something for the gesso to settle into -- and self-level so to speak. The hard boards don't. The gesso sits on top and so the brush strokes show more. That being said, let me suggest to you trying Utrecht gesso. It's very thick, not watery like the others. It sits almost like a thick gel medium on top of the wood. When I want to get a SUPER even surface, I use this gesso with a silicone squeegee by either "Messermeister flexible silicone Dough Scraper" or "SqueegeePress.com." Both of these brands have a fine edge of silicone to give you a very fine "swipe". You still might need to sand a little bit but there won't be those brush marks. It will be very smooth like smoothed out cake frosting. Otherwise, I'd make sure you are using a very fine vinyl brush to gesso with. Thin, not one of those thick ones they sell at Home Depot. I like the ones that are about 1/4 to 1/2" thick thick and about 2 or 3" wide vinyl. I hope this helps!!!
@@mccampbellartstudio I appreciate your detailed answer and sugestions! Thank you so much. I use liquitex gesso, but after many efforts, I will start painting (I use the glazing technique, so you see right through to the panel) and bam, the "texture" from the dried gesso is there! It has honestly become the worst part of the painting process haha. I heard an artist who uses a primer in spray form, however the fumes and smell is just overhwelming. I will take your advice and try this asap :)
@@maudale You are so welcome. Now that I know how you paint, that does make a difference. For painters like me, who paint thickly and a lot of layers, the gesso perfection doesn't really matter, but for you, it would. I see that now. And yes, if you are working pretty small, say a 9 x 12" painting, then I can see how fabulous spraying on gesso would be --smooth, thin layers would be easy to achieve. But I work usually on pieces that are average 3' x 4' so that's not cost effective, nor do I want to breath it or put that out into the environment. I wonder if it's your brush that's the problem. Liquitex and Golden both have about the same consistency of gesso IMHO. I think Liquitex might even be a bit waterier. Regardless, usually I get a good smooth gesso using those products if my substrate is super smooth and my brush is super "fine" haired. Let me know how the Utrecht with a squeegee works if you end up trying that. I like to use the squeegee because it also makes my gesso painting move faster. Best to you.
@@mccampbellartstudio Thank you so much! I use large sheets of wood, and the sand paper I have certainly isn't very strong, which is what I was hoping for in order to avoid being to abrasive with the gesso, but it hardly smoothes anything out. I will try the squeegee the next time I use gesso on a board. Thank you again for your help and for your time :)
@@mccampbellartstudio If I could ask you one more thing!! The wood used is something of a debate, because sometimes it's not the wood, but the source which can be a problem. I had initially used water resistant MDF, but I was told to stay away from MDF because of the fact it's low density, and that birch, or hardwood plywood was better? I also heard ABS plastic sheets are a good alternative... it's a shame it's all so complicated. One just wants to paint and not worry so much about the support!!
Hello , can gesso be used on laminated wood? Thanks 😊
Hey...I'm assuming you mean plywood? Yes, you can. Just add at least 3 coats of it. Hope that helps.
@@mccampbellartstudio ok that’s great. Thank you so much. Out of your experience, is home made gesso good? I’ve seen videos where people mix calcium carbonate and pva glue and they say it works great !!!
@@rommycougar I have never tried that. But I know people who have and swear by it. I cannot recommend a recipe or anything since I just don't know anything about it. I buy professional grade gesso for my canvases but I use regular house primer on the back of my wood panels to help with moisture and humidity and warping. It would be too costly to use gesso on the backside. I know some people use primer too but I don't do that either. I'm pretty crazy about being as archival as I can be since I want my artwork to las a long, long time. :-)
FYI, wiping with a moist cloth might seem like you are removing the dust, but what is actually happening is the dust is moved into the cracks of the sanded surface you just sanded, this prevents the primer or sealant from doing a better job. The best way to remove the dust is to vacuum with a brush attachment on a shop vac or something equivalent. Then use denatured alcohol to raise the grain of the wood, then apply your sealant. This is both my professional industrial painter and professional artist experience.
Yes, I thought about vacuuming the panel but honestly it's such a tiny amount of gesso that I'm sanding off that it didn't matter to me if it went into the grain since it's still gesso particles. But yes, I agree, if you want to remove something completely, best to vacuum the particles away. Denatured alcohol-- good pointer....thanks so much.
@@mccampbellartstudio Oh, I was mainly referring to the dry panel with no gesso, as this is going to be the first layer of contact, and it needs to be the best adhesion. Wood grain is often deep (compared to the micro scratches of 220 grit) and is more critical to better contact with the gesso itself.
@@chrisgriffith1573 Oh, ok, I see what you mean. Yes, my panels come already finely sanded so I just do a quick final sand. But yes, your way makes total sense to me. Thanks for the input and for watching!
Adding gesso is so time consuming. There has to be a much better way in 2023 than spending hours on one board before you start your painting.
You can purchase pre-gessoed panels, papers and canvases. You don't have to go through this at all. I just like to do my own because you know what is beneath your painting and you know it's archival. Plus, you can create the texture or surface that you like to paint on. Some of the pre-gessoed products are very slick and strange to paint on. I also don't trust what it is. They often come from China and who knows what is in the gesso itself. So, I like to do my own for the most part. Better more expensive brands may have better pre-gessoed products. Happy painting!