Practice question · True or false
A traditional gesso of chalk and animal glue is too brittle for a flexible canvas and belongs on a rigid panel.
Hints
- Ask what happens to a brittle layer stretched over something that moves.
- The tub labelled "acrylic gesso" is a different material.
Show the answer
True
Why
True, and the naming is what causes the trouble. Real gesso is chalk or gypsum in animal glue, hard and inflexible, and it crazes on anything that flexes. The tub sold as acrylic gesso contains no gesso: it is a flexible dispersion that merely occupies the same place in the stack.
Practise Supports, Stretchers, Sizing and Grounds
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