Clear Gesso

Clear Gesso is a transparent primer used to prepare canvases, wood, or paper for painting without hiding the natural grain, texture, or background color underneath. It creates a rough, toothy surface that helps acrylics, oils, pastels, and charcoals stick securely while letting your background show through.

Key Benefits of Clear Gesso

• Preserves backgrounds: It protects raw wood grain, coloured papers, or underdrawings without covering them.
• Adds perfect grit: It creates a matte texture (called "tooth") that grabs onto dry mediums like pastel.
• Prevents absorption: It stops paint binders from soaking directly into raw canvas fabric or wood panels.
• Mixable: You can mix it directly with acrylic paints to create your own custom-tinted coloured primers.

Highly Rated Clear Gesso’s

• Liquitex Professional Clear Gesso: This is the industry standard for an incredibly clear finish that provides an excellent, gritty tooth for both heavy paints and delicate dry pastels.
• Golden Acrylics Clear Gesso: Known for its professional-grade durability, this option remains completely transparent and flexible, ensuring your canvas will not crack over time.
• Bob Ross Clear Gesso: Formulated specifically to create an ideal slick-yet-toothy base on canvas, making it perfect for wet-on-wet painting techniques.

How to Apply It

1. Clean the surface: Wipe away any dust or oils from your wood, canvas, or heavy paper.
2. Brush it thin: Apply a thin, flat layer using a wide brush, sponge, or foam roller.
3. Sand if needed: Let it dry completely for 2 to 4 hours, then lightly sand it if you want a smoother surface.
4. Add extra coats: Apply a second layer perpendicular to the first coat if you are working on highly absorbent raw wood or canvas.