Gesso, pronounced like jes-so, is commonly used on surfaces to "prime" it. It is usually applied in thin layers to prevent cracking. Gesso provides a "tooth" to promote adhesion of the following medium, especially on slick surfaces. It can create beautiful texture on your pieces, especially heavy gesso. it comes in many colors including white, black, and clear. There are lots of ways to use it and today we are going to look at just a few ways.
On this watercolor paper, i placed gesso on the left side and nothing on the right side. Then i used various mediums on both halves. I also added water to some of the mediums to show you how it reacts on both sides. The gesso makes the gelatos & watercolor crayons very blendable and smooth. The spray ink on the gesso is easy to move around even after it is dry. It really grabs the acrylic paints. i highly recommend you do this with all your mediums to see the effects.
Gesso + Watercolor Crayons + Spray inks + Acrylic Paints
On this art journal page it created the base for page. Using my Pie Chart stencil i also created a lot of texture in the center of the page. I could wipe away some of the color using a damp cloth or paper towel.
Clear Gesso + Black Gesso + Spray inks + Acrylic Paint.
This vintage atlas was prepped with clear gesso to prime the page and prevent bleeding of the spray ink. It has a bit more gritty texture than white gesso. I used black gesso around the silhouettes and then black paint.
Gesso + Watercolor crayon + Spray Ink
I used gesso across the whole background of this page in a light wash so you could still see patterned paper peeking through the layers. I covered it with watercolor crayons and water. Check out this video for this technique on a different page.
Heavy Gesso + Stencil +Acrylic Paint
The design on the background of this canvas piece was created using a stencil and heavy gesso. i love the deep texture it creates. You can view this whole canvas trio here.
Gesso + Acrylic Paints + Spray Inks
Gesso is a great cover up too. Here i had to redo her chin after layers of paint. By covering up the bits with gesso, i could then rework the area. It also provides the texture on the background giving the yellow that bright base.
Have you created something this week? Anything goes...an art journal page, doodle, scrapbook page, card...just something creative. Share a link at the bottom of this post with the inLinkz button. Just leave a link to a specific blog post or image on flickr, rather than a general url. This way we can see your stellar creation.
