Two canvas cross-sections: primed canvas has size, then an acrylic gesso ground, then oil or acrylic paint; stained canvas has no ground, so thinned paint soaks into the raw fibers.

Concept · Working With Each

Grounds for Each

The most common canvas ground today is acrylic, sold as gesso, and both paints go over it.

The name is borrowed from traditional gesso, a different ground covered in Pigments and Materials. Some painters skip the ground altogether and stain the canvas.

  • Morris Louis stained with Magna, the solvent acrylic.
  • Helen Frankenthaler's first stains, in 1952, were oil; she moved to acrylic in 1962.

Image: Made for this site · Original work

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