Here’s how I prime a wooden board for oil painting. Wooden boards are hands-down my favourite surface to paint on. However, when painting on unprimed wood, chemicals can cause discolouration in the paint, which we don’t want!
Items needed:
- Wooden boards (Premium Plywood 7mm thick)
- Artist’s Acrylic Gesso
- A sponge
- A saw (optional)
- Plastic gloves (because we aren’t preparing our hands to be painted… I think)
Step 1: Gather materials
Boards can be bought from Bunnings or most other household hardware stores.
Step 2 (optional): Saw the boards to desired size
In this tutorial, I am using 60cm x 90cm boards. However, you can use whatever size suits your needs and desires for the finished boards.
Step 3: ~2 tablespoons of Gesso on each board
Step 4: Use the sponge to smooth the Gesso over the boards
With experience, using small circular motions (about the size of a hand, or a radius of about 15cm) tends to cover the board in the most effective way.
After this it’s a good idea to wait about half an hour before applying the next layer of gesso.
Step 5: Repeat steps 3-5.
2-3 layers of Gesso tends to be sufficient to cover the boards for painting. Hence, the idea is that it will be completely opaque and white, without any of the original wood showing through.
Step 6: Sandpaper the edges
Now that the gesso is completely dry, its a good idea to run some sandpaper along the edges of the boards. This lets the edges become smooth, and stops the likelihood of getting bits of wood stuck on the board when painting. Additionally, it makes it much more comfortable to hold and transport the board.
Step 7: Start painting!
And there it is! It’s super easy to prime a board for oil painting.
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