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Old 05-08-2006, 08:30 PM   #3
Richard Bingham Richard Bingham is offline
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Joined: Jan 2006
Location: Blackfoot Id
Posts: 431
Xander, most painters in oil agree (or at least debate) that water-reduceable acrylic co-polymer, a plastic that lays claim to remaining indefinitely flexible, violates the essential "fat over lean" principle of oil painting, since a flexible ground or underpainting is at odds with the inevitability that oil paint becomes increasingly brittle with age.

Acrylic "gesso" thinly applied is not an unworkable primer for oil paint because it is absorbent, a quality you seem desirous of avoiding.

I'd recommend you apply a single-coat of acrylic gesso and avoid applying the emulsion (gel medium ?) entirely. There are better ways to accomplish a "fast", minimally absorbent painting ground by using materials better suited to oil paint. Sooner or later, the over-layers of oil paint will part from the glossy acrylic underlayment in the method you described using.

Depending on your personal approach to beginning the painting, sanding the surface smooth and applying an initial "couch" of oil and turps, or Maroger's medium will eliminate the annoying "drag" of an absorbent ground. Using oil-primed fine linen provides other options for painting surfaces more to your liking.

"Real" gesso (rabbitskin glue and whiting preparation) applied to a panel and finely sanded can also provide a velvety smooth surface, and its absorbency may be controlled either by altering the proportions of glue in the mixture, or by oiling or rubbing in a painting medium before beginning to paint.
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