I have sized hardboard (fiberboard) panels with white alkyd primer (Beckers Nondrop) bought at the hardware store. The result is a perfect surface for oil painting. The traditional way is to size with rabbit skin glue or fish glue and then add a layer of oil gesso. Alternatively one can use acrylic gesso. However, since both glue and acrylic gesso are water based, the panels will inevitably become warped. This doesn't happen when using alkyd primer.
Moreover, alkyd primer can be used on any material because it is a super-adhesive. Nor does it cause rotting in the underlying fabric, so one doesn't need an underlying layer of rabbit skin glue. It can be used on any kind of weave, too. It can even be used on a plastic surface, at least if you sandpaper it slightly. So oil painters can now paint on virtually anything (plaster, wood, concrete--anything!), just like acrylic painters. Beckers Nondrop is thixotropic and has a buttery consistency. Thus, it should be suitable for oil painting, too. Alkyd primer is less flexible than acrylics but more flexible than traditional oil primer. It is very strong and non-absorbent.
So forget about acrylic gesso as well as traditional gesso. The problem with acrylic gesso is that it does not form a chemical bond with the oil paint. This means that alkyd primer is decidedly more archival, because oil paint forms a chemical bond with alkyds. In order to add "tooth" to the alkyd, so that it becomes a gesso proper, you could add calcium bentonite, or any other traditional additive. A good idea is to add a layer of alkyd primer to the ready-made panels that you buy at artists' shops. Thus, you get a better coating to paint on, because the oil paints adheres perfectly. Since the alkyd adheres strongly to the acrylic layer, there is no risk of delamination.
In fact, Gamblin has an alkyd oil paint ground (Gamblin Ground) to which has been added barium sulfate, to provide tooth. They also give the advice that pre-primed acrylic canvases should be coated with Gamblin Ground. Since oil painters still use whites containing zinc oxide, it is recommendable to use an alkyd ground, because zinc oxide adheres badly to the acrylic layer, due to the formation of saponins. This could give rise to delamination in the future.
So if you buy raw canvas, you only need to add two layers of alkyd primer, which can be added directly onto the canvas. This provides a much better ground than oil painters have had recourse to in earlier times. The water-based glues, since they absorb humidity, have proved to be damaging to the paintings because they keep expanding and contracting in keeping with the humidity in the air. That's why many think that acrylic primer is better. But this isn't good for other reasons. So we will see that alkyd primer will gain adherents.
Mats Winther
Moreover, alkyd primer can be used on any material because it is a super-adhesive. Nor does it cause rotting in the underlying fabric, so one doesn't need an underlying layer of rabbit skin glue. It can be used on any kind of weave, too. It can even be used on a plastic surface, at least if you sandpaper it slightly. So oil painters can now paint on virtually anything (plaster, wood, concrete--anything!), just like acrylic painters. Beckers Nondrop is thixotropic and has a buttery consistency. Thus, it should be suitable for oil painting, too. Alkyd primer is less flexible than acrylics but more flexible than traditional oil primer. It is very strong and non-absorbent.
So forget about acrylic gesso as well as traditional gesso. The problem with acrylic gesso is that it does not form a chemical bond with the oil paint. This means that alkyd primer is decidedly more archival, because oil paint forms a chemical bond with alkyds. In order to add "tooth" to the alkyd, so that it becomes a gesso proper, you could add calcium bentonite, or any other traditional additive. A good idea is to add a layer of alkyd primer to the ready-made panels that you buy at artists' shops. Thus, you get a better coating to paint on, because the oil paints adheres perfectly. Since the alkyd adheres strongly to the acrylic layer, there is no risk of delamination.
In fact, Gamblin has an alkyd oil paint ground (Gamblin Ground) to which has been added barium sulfate, to provide tooth. They also give the advice that pre-primed acrylic canvases should be coated with Gamblin Ground. Since oil painters still use whites containing zinc oxide, it is recommendable to use an alkyd ground, because zinc oxide adheres badly to the acrylic layer, due to the formation of saponins. This could give rise to delamination in the future.
So if you buy raw canvas, you only need to add two layers of alkyd primer, which can be added directly onto the canvas. This provides a much better ground than oil painters have had recourse to in earlier times. The water-based glues, since they absorb humidity, have proved to be damaging to the paintings because they keep expanding and contracting in keeping with the humidity in the air. That's why many think that acrylic primer is better. But this isn't good for other reasons. So we will see that alkyd primer will gain adherents.
Mats Winther
