When first starting oil painting must the practise surface always be covered in gesso?
Hi! Ok – forget Gesso (or Jesso) depending on where you go or who you talk to. I have been oil painting as a hobby for the last 10 years or so and I have NEVER used this stuff – it is expensive and to be honest a waste of time. This is what I do – I go to the local DIY store and buy a small tin of ordinary white gloss paint – non drip or liquid makes no difference. Then using an ordinary paintbrush, paint a thin coating of the oil paint onto the canvas – hard board or the heavy paper. That is all you need to allow the colours to flow over the base colour. Just let it dry off for about 5 mins before painting onto it. Then start with the background first and work forward to the parts of the scene/s that are nearest. That’s it – no more expense on Gesso. Email me if you like or want more tips – click on the Avatar to see the profile and there are my contact details. If you want to do night time scenes at all – e.g. dark moonlit forest scenes or the like just substitue the white gloss and
