GOLDEN Gessos & Grounds

GOLDEN Gessos & Grounds offer artist a variety of ways to prepare substrates for acrylic paintings or other art media such as oil, alkyds, charcoal, pastels and watercolor. Features include:
*Gessos are Ready-to-use formulas
*maximum pigment loads for more opaque coverage
*lightfast; permanent; flexible
*water-based; conforms to ASTM D 4236

Product Highlights...

PREPARE IT RIGHT WITH GOLDEN GESSO!
Why jeopardize the longetivity of your art work by using cheap, low grade gesso? GOLDEN Gesso is perfect for artist looking for a high quality, ready-to-use, white liquid ground formulated for use of acrylics on any commonly used painting surface. GOLDEN Gesso is easily sanded to control tooth of surface. It is flexible and can be applied in thin layers to conform to a variety of textured surfaces yet resist cracking. Apply at least 3 layers of Gesso to substrate for an oil painting.

FAQ...

Why is Gesso so important when preparing supports?
Gesso can be thought of as the bridge between the support and the paint. GOLDEN Gesso is designed to penetrate a support and provide a surface for the adherence of paint. Proper preparation of the support with GOLDEN Gesso can increase the life span of the art work. GOLDEN Gesso is formulated to be flexible and is highly pigmented for opaque coverage.

What is a Ground?
A Ground is a product that provides a desired surface on which to paint. Grounds can provide a surface to apply pastels, watercolor or other products. GOLDEN makes two specialty grounds: Absorbent Ground and Acrylic Ground for Pastels. Absorbent Ground is applied to any gessoed support and mimics the absorbency of watercolor paper. Acrylic Ground for Pastel contains a gritty solid to allow pastels and other drawing media to adhere to surface. Many other GOLDEN products can be used as effective grounds.

Does GOLDEN make a clear Gesso?
GOLDEN does not package any one product as a clear Gesso. GOLDEN Matte Medium and Fluid Matte Medium work well as a clear Gesso. The matting solids in each product provide enough tooth to be used as a primer and are thin enough to effectively penetrate the canvas.

Can acrylic primers be used with Oil Paints?
Over the last 45 years, Acrylic Gesso has become the most widely used and recommended priming surface for Oil paints. The highly textured and porous acrylic layers enables the adhesion between two materials. The toothy Acrylic Gesso allows the penetration and grab of the oil paint layer. Acrylic Gesso is not greatly affected by similar changes in humidity which soften traditional animal hide primers. Recent evidence from conservation scientist that the marble dust found in most Acrylic Gesso acts as an additional buffer against the acid attack of the oil layers.