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What's the difference between white acrylic gesso and acrylic titanium white paint
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Posted
What's the difference between white acrylic gesso and acrylic titanium white paint?
Is gesso thicker than normal titanium white paint? Will it slow down the rate at which acrylic paint dries when painted onto cartridge paper?
The reason I ask is that I go to life drawing classes. I've stopped using pencils and have started painting with acrylics on large (A2) sheets of paper. Acrylic dries within a few seconds after it's painted on paper, so most of the paint strokes have hard edges. I could use retardant, but you need a lot and it can dilute the intensity of the colours. If paper painted with gesso can slow down the drying rate a bit, I might be able to get soft edges more easily
Posted
Keora. There are people here who will know the chemical properties and differences between the two.
I use acrylic gesso to seal the surface of the paper I use for my painting. I also use it as a drawing medium (sort of) in my graphite drawings because it gives a good surface for the graphite. I don’t paint onto ‘naked’ paper so I don’t really have any comparison.
It may slow the drying of your acrylic a little as it will seal the paper. The acrylic gesso I use is noticeably more fluid than my acrylic paint.
Posted
The white paint described as acrylic gesso is a modified, flowing version of Titanium white, and can be used as a thin white paint (though still opaque). I've never thought of painting into wet gesso - but it could be done ... would it help with your issue...? I'm not sure. It'd be quite messy if you applied it all over the support and then painted into it when wet - you might do that in the security of your own studio, but if out and about I think you'd get white gesso everywhere, over yourself, the floor, easels, other people.... passing cats.....
I think the way I'd go with this is to take a spritzer bottle with me and spray the surface with water to enable your brush-strokes to blend more easily - it may take a while to judge the amount of water needed, and that will depend on the paint you're using plus your own technique. It would work with a more fluid paint, like System 3, Galeria, or Chromacolour (and possibly with other free-flow brands I've not yet tried). I'd also dilute the paint with water rather than medium, to achieve softer edges: Chromacolour is particularly good for that approach, as it's capable of greater dilution than some without losing its adhesive qualities.
Posted
I bought some Daler Rowney acrylic gesso, painted it on cartridge paper and then did a quick acrylic painting on top of the gesso. The gesso seems to slow down the drying rate a bit - not much but enough to be able smudge the edges of brushstrokes to get soft edges. Thick layers of acrylic paint definitely take longer to dry than when painted directly on to cartridge paper, and have a different texture when dry.
Posted
Probably because the unpainted/sealed/primed cartridge paper is far more absorbent than acrylic gesso - so it'll suck your paint into itself, which accelerates surface drying. You'd have a different result again if you used watercolour paper instead, always depending on the brand a bit - some being more absorbent than others.
So - a lifetime of experiment awaits!