Masonite question

[marcoeberhart]

Hello everybody.
Im doing an oil painting in my first gesso base. I've taken a piece of wood, very solid and smooth, and painted it with 4 layers of acrylic gesso. The surface got a nice texture. But when i, for exemple, scratch the surface strongly with a nail, the gesso gets off. Is that correct? what did i made wrong? Also, is different to paint in gessoed board? because i noticed that the paint gets more transparent and thin over the acrylic gesso. I took some photos to show you. I made a orange underpainting for the blue sky...after i painted the second layer, the blue, you can still see some orange spots where the painting didnt "fixate" to the board... ist that very wrong?
Im sorry for the english, i hope you can understand.

[bjoern3000]

Hello Marco

Normaly you would sand your board prior to the first layer of gesso. It doesn't need to have a super rough texture but it should "open" the board enough to let the gesso sink in and grip tightly to the wood. The first layer should be thinned a little bit with water so that it is easier for the gesso to sink into the wood - the acrylic gesso becomes more liquid. The second layer needs to have a little less water and so on...

That the orange is showing through is quite normal but it depends on different things - the paint you buy, the medium you use and how much of it, how much pressure you're applying the paint with ect.

Hope that helped!

Schönen Gruß
Björn
(ich vermute mal du bist deutsch?)

EDIT: looked at your other forum posts - so youre from Brazil - but your name sounds german

[marcoeberhart]

Hello Bjoern!
Yes, i have strong german, in both sides of my family...but i dont speak german =(
I think i understood now... i didnt knew the gesso had to penetrate the wood. I've heard from the owner of a artistic material shop here in Brazilian (the largest art supplies in my city) that acrylic gesso should not be sanded...is that right?
Im using Winsor & Newton and Van Gogh Oil colors, with Winsor & Newton's Liquin and Talens Painting Medium as medium.
Thank you!

[bjoern3000]

I paint either on gessoed canvas which still has a weaved texture and sometimes I paint on wood panel.
When I paint on wood panel I prefer a super smooth surface. To get it I coat it several times with sanding between the layers. I use wet sandpaper and a little bit of water to get it super smooth.

The Old Masters used rabbit skin glue to connect both - the wood panel and the chalk - to prime the panel. First layer wood be pure skin glue and in the following layers they would use chalk mixed with skin glue. This would stick very strongly on the wood panel.

With acrylic gesso it's a bit easier - just add a little bit of water to the gesso to thin it down a bit. Preparing skin glue is a lot of work: measuring the right proportions, cooking it, let it cool down ect.

For your paints: good choices!