Gesso can be thought of as the bridge between your support (canvas, board or whatever you paint on) and the paint. GOLDEN Gesso is designed to penetrate supports and provide a surface to which paint can adhere. Proper preparation with GOLDEN Gesso increases the life span of artwork. Our Gesso is formulated to be flexible and is highly pigmented for greater opacity.

White and Black Gesso are ready-to-use formulations for painting on most surfaces. They are flexible and can be applied in thin layers to conform to a variey to textures without cracking. For oil painting, we recommended that at least three layers of gesso. Gesso can be mixed with acrylic colors to produce a range of colored grounds. (Item# White Gesso - 3550, Black Gesso - 3560)

Sandable Hard Gesso is formulated with 100% acrylic polymer emulsion and can be sanded to provide surfaces that are smoother and more even than those created using regular gesso. (Item# 3551)

Grounds for Painting & Drawing

Many GOLDEN Acrylic Mediums can make practically any surface ready for your favorite pencil, pastel, ink, or watercolors, see GOLDEN Mediums, Gels & Pastes.

Absorbent Ground is a fluid acrylic medium that dries to a porous, paper-like surface. Applied over gessoed canvas, it facilitates raw canvas-like staining and watercolor effects. Lightfast, permanent and flexible. This is a Health Labeled (HL) Product, and not for use by children.(Item# 3555)

Pastel Ground is an acrylic preparation for pastels on canvas and other supports. It creates toothy surface similar to papers used with pastel and chalk. For an even rougher texture Fine or Coarse Pumice Gel can be added. Acrylic Ground for Pastel can also be tinted with acrylic colors. (Item# 3640)

Silverpoint / Drawing Ground is an opaque white liquid acrylic preparation for drawing media. It is designed for fine detail and line work on a permanent, lightfast, flexible ground. Silverpoint / Drawing Ground can be tinted with acrylic colors and is ideal for use with metal styli, graphite and other drawing tools. (Item# 3558)