College Arts session this Friday on Grounds
After several years of work together with staff of the College Arts Association, we have finally been able to put together a panel composed of manufacturers and exhibitors at the show. We’ve asked Mark Gottsegen to moderate a panel presentation and discussion on grounds and sizes for your paintings. I hope this is just a start to a continued collaboration with CAA. I am delighted that we are able to open up a dialogue with a larger community within the arts. We have so much to gain from one another as long as we continue to be willing to talk. I am so grateful to Paul Skiff the long time CAA Book Fair coordinator for his continued efforts to make this happen, and to Mark Gottsegen for moderating and adding his voice to see that we can enlarge the participating community. Mark will also be there to introduce his new association the Art Materials Information adn Education Network (AMIEN). We are confident that every studio artist will recognize the value of an independent resource for materials information and collaboration that AMIEN will provide.
I hope any of you folks who will be at the CAA annual meeting in NYC will join us this Friday at 5:30 pm at the 3rd Floor in the Petit Trianon room at the Hilton NY for the discussion and to say hello. Hope to see you there. Mark
« Grounds reinventing the finished piece
Comments
Comment from Mark Golden
Time: March 29, 2007, 4:41 pm
Thanks Spence, The testing process has been going on now for the last 3 years.. We are working on developing protocol for testing of all modern gessoes, or as we prefer to call them, “Grounds” so as not to confuse them with traditional gesso.
The first few years of testing involved simply profiling the products as they currently exist. How hard are they, how sensitive to moisture, flexibility over time, adhesion of multiple layers, blocking of oil layers.
Some of the most interesting data was developed in a project we worked on jointly with Queens University, showing the significant hydroplasticity of the acrylic films: Meaning the greater the humidity the more flexible these materials become. This works extremely well with a moving cotton canvas. As the moisture increases the cotton fibers curl, thereby tightening the canvas. Because the acrylic becomes even more flexible with increasing humidity, it is able to move with the changes. In the real world the level of movement in the canvas is very small with changes in humidity, compared to the amazing flexibility of the acrylic film in most conditions (other then cold temperatures).
The other thing we learned is that the acrylic is incredibly porous, thereby allowing the oil binder to penetrate into the pores of the film. Adhesion tends to be quite good between the oil paint film and the toothy acrylic gesso, contrary to popular myths about delaminating of the material.
We also learned that we need at least 3 layers of acrylic ground to avoid the leaching of the acidic oil into the layers of the canvas. I’d suggest 4 layers for the following reasons. 4 coats increase significantly the tensile strength of the acrylic ground providing better support, for the much more brittle oil paint layers.
We should be publishing some of these results in a much more rigorous form over the next few months. We’ll make sure it gets posted on the web. Regards, Mark
Comment from lorrainefinke
Time: August 14, 2007, 11:51 am
when painting on arches water color paper what product should i use as a ground
gac 100 is what i have done before
miles leventhal has been my teacher in florida
missed your lecture there no room.thanks
Comment from Mark Golden
Time: August 23, 2007, 7:50 am
Greetings Lorraine, We were so excited about the response last April, that we’re hoping to be able to do some more events next year.
As to your question about the Arches: Why do you need a ground? I’d particularly be interested in what you’re trying to achieve on that surface that would benefit from the GAC 100. I’ll often suggest the GAC 100 if we’re trying to seal the surface to increase working time, or wanting to gain additional slide of the paint over the surface. Certainly there are other reasons that the GAC might assist, but it would really depend upon what you are trying to achieve.
Lorraine give our Tech Support line a call and I’m sure they can go into detail about your particular needs and next steps.
Hope to see you in FL soon, Regards, Mark
Comment from Spence Guerin
Time: March 25, 2007, 11:09 pm
ACRYLIC GESSO AS GROUND FOR OIL PAINTING
A couple of years ago I was advised that Golden would be conducting tests concerning acrylic gesso use as ground for oil paint. Have those tests been conducted? If so, what are results?
Pls advise.
thanks,
Spence Guerin