a review on Matisse colored gesso

I used to watch Bob Ross videos on YouTube and used to always say that you can paint an entire painting using just acrylic gesso. Bob of course used white and black in his day for his backgrounds. Since then, there are many other colors to use. In finding some of Matisse gesso in my studio from my earlier experiences in painting, I decided to take a visit back to the Matisse colored gesso and do a couple of paintings.

Matisse colored gesso

I found that the lids were difficult to open as the gesso had dried them shut since the lids are a screw on. Once I opened the plastic container, the color had separated from the gesso and I needed to stir them for several minutes to get the consistency back. As I recall the same was true when I first acquired the gesso.

Matisse says to use the gesso right out of the container which isn't always such a great idea for obvious reasons. If you pour the gesso out from the container, you will have it all over the tip where there are screw ridges for the lid. They aren't the easiest to clean and when dried up especially after you have screwed the lid back on, you are going to have some difficulty getting the lids off.

The second thing I noticed after getting the lid off was that there was a definite odor in the gesso. It was the same strong odor as when I first got them. For me it was strong enough to bother me as I am sensitive to strong odors, hence oil painting is no longer in the cards for me. I suppose that was one of the reasons I stopped using Matisse colored gesso. But for my experiment, I decided to use them regardless, turning on my 2 exhaust fans in my art studio, which cut down some of the odor.

The gesso goes on very smooth and is lot thicker than the cheap white gesso (Daler-Rowney) you get these days from big box stores like Walmart. I hardly ever use gesso anymore as many of the pre-stretch canvases and boards already come ready for painting. I mainly use the gesso for mixing and lightening my acrylic paints.

The Matisse colors are very vibrant and do not darken as do many of the acrylic paints. I can mix them with other acrylic paints or the gesso for different colors. I can also add a little water to thin it out. The gesso dries just as quick as any other acrylic paint or gesso. I like using the gesso but using it right out of the container especially if I want to mix it with different color or water just will not work. My problem is with the screw on caps that dry shut after pouring. Let's face it, how many of you are willing to take the time out to really clean the caps and the edges of the container before putting them away. Not me, I'm way too lazy for that! You will need to find an alternate way to move the gesso from the container to your palate. My other problem is with the smell. If it wasn't for it, I would probably use it more.

Below are the two paintings using Matisse colored gesso. Both have been sealed with an acrylic sealer.

painting using colored gesso

painting using colored gesso