A somewhat frustrating day at first, woke too late and had a lot of small jobs and a lack of focus, but I fought through this jungle of the day and into a bit of a sunlit meadow of creation.
The Lascaux Primer arrived, which was interesting. Gesso is complex to quantify and compare because it can vary in viscosity, absorbency, tooth and finish (plastic/chalky, matt/gloss) as well as basics like pigment density/opacity. All these things matter. It would help if there were standard units for these and each manufacturer listed them but as we are, artists must try them all.
Now, I bought this because my Lefranc and Bourgeous Gesso had thickened to a cream-like constituency, going from 1478g (for a litre) when new, down to 748g five years later, as the water had evaporated. By amusing coincidence, it now looks and behaves exactly like the new Lascaux Primer. Of course, I haven't tested absorbency and other things in detail, but in consistency and tooth, the two are indistinguishable.
I've tried 4 brands to date:
-Winsor and Newton (red label). Made before 2010. This had a jelly-like constituency which I liked at the time because I use a roller and a watery gesso can spatter. I've used this exclusively for priming almost all of my paintings to date (mostly on MDF panels). Only now has my last tub of this expired. Sandable, and with a quite strong tooth with an almost glittery aspect (quartz? mica?).
-Winsor and Newton (black label). After about 2010, they reformulated to make this. Much more liquid, perhaps the most liquid of any gesso I've tried. A palette knife won't lift any, you must pour it or use a brush. Too liquid for me, and less tooth.
-Lefranc and Bourgeous. When new, this was slightly thicker than Winsor and Newton black label, but still quite fluid, not jelly-like at all. Very fine tooth. As I said, now after 5 years of thickening, and sanding two test patches, it appears to be indistinguishable from Lascaux Primer, but my 1 litre has shrunk down to about 500ml anyway. I've no idea if this loss of water has changed the chemistry; I don't know if acrylic suspensions in water oxidise or merely evaporate. Like the Winsor and Newton brands this has a cardboard sealer-thing in the lid, which tends to stick to the rim, become damp, glued and then peel off leaving bits of cardboard in the gesso.
-Lascaux Primer. 785g for 500ml (in the tub, of course, one can only compare weight like with like). A heavy, cream-like constituency, the stuff on the top of the lid won't drip down and holds peaks. About the consistency of the extra-thick spoonable dairy cream we all buy for mince pies. A very fine tooth in my one test, but have not painted on it so can't fully comment on absorbency or tooth. This is intended as a smooth top coat or general primer. Lascaux Gesso is supposed to be rougher, with more tooth and more absorbency. As I like a smooth surface, I was unsure which to get. I will probably try both.
There is no cardboard sealer in the Lascaux lid, in fact, nothing. For acrylic media or PVA glue this can mean a danger that the whole tub will dry into a solid lump over time. Golden seal their rims with insulation tape to stop this (they also use the cardboard sealers, though a bit higher quality, more plastic). One trick here is to turn the tub upside down once to seal the gaps. This can allow the media to set and form an airtight seal around the lid, but this also can glue the lid firmly shut. I now seal the lids with cling film.
I will list any future Gessos if I remember.
At about 3pm I started painting and added another paint layer to the tiny (15mm square) face on Land of Beauty and Sorrow. I think it looks better now. I will have to check in the light of a new day. The joy of oil paint is that the very tiny tiniest of marks remain, the slightest of slight strokes, even breath itself moves the paint. Sometimes I paint without being able to see the result, knowing that it is having an effect. This tiny face took 90 minutes.
After that, I decided to rework Covidopolis. The sky was too uneven in finish, all due to the rubbish canvas board surface. I glazed it with some azo yellow, a wonderful and strange colour. My recent lighting guides were not of use for it. In the original plan, which I stuck to firmly, the sky had lots of little lines in, like the sugar strands 'hundreds and thousands':
These are like dust, dirt, virus particles, but the painting looked very otherworldly and unrealistic. The division between the foreground triangles and background 'dashes' was too stark... I felt that I needed to add something real, organic, so made these dots into silhouettes of birds. I first imagined crows but a quick image search gave me some doves, which by happy coincidence seemed perfect; the souls of Covid-19 victims perhaps, a peaceful element to contrast with the foreground.
I may keep working on this painting yet, but for now it is drying. I don't feel like painting tomorrow so will plan the colours for Spree Killer, or perhaps the Volcanism picture (already out of date in my latest philosophy of aesthetics) and perhaps work on other compositions. It is 11pm and I'm only just finishing. It is time to enter the world of dreams.
