Aaaack! My paint won't stick to the canvas!

8/11/2015

by Karen Lynn Ingalls

Has this ever happened to you? The paint beads up and won't stick to the canvas? (We're talking acrylics here.) When it happens, it's easier to see when you've got more water in your paint. So, what the heck is going wrong, and how do you fix it?

The problem isn't with your paints, it's with that sweet little canvas that you got at such a good deal.... Every ready-made canvas you buy comes pre-primed with gesso (pronounced JESS-oh). Gesso is different from plain white paint, in that it has gluey properties. It covers the surface you're going to paint on, and its gluey properties help the paint stick to the surface. (In years and centuries past, gesso was actually made with glue from rabbit skins.) Most often you'll find white pigment in it (though you can also find black and clear gesso for acrylics).

In order to cut costs and keep the price low on those value canvases, sometimes manufacturers will thin the gesso down to the point where it just doesn't stick all that much. So although the label may say double-primed or triple-primed, the gesso that was sprayed on the canvas was thinned so much that it just doesn't do what you thought it would.

So, the solution? Prime your canvas with a nice coat of gesso. Some people like to apply multiple coats, let each coat dry thoroughly, and then sand it before applying the next coat. Sanding is a nice way of taking out the brush marks left by the gesso when it's thick — if that is important to you.

Then, when it's dry, you can get back to painting. Have fun!

9 Comments

Karen Lynn Ingalls

I am a working artist in Napa and Sonoma Counties, in northern California. I paint colorist landscapes of rural California, teach art classes, workshops, and private lessons, live in Calistoga, and have my art studio in Santa Rosa, California.

I also teach private, group, and corporate art workshops online and in Napa Valley, Sonoma County, and other parts of Northern California. You can find more information about my art workshops at www.NapaValleyArtWorkshops.com, or contact me to find out more!

Bessie Edler

10/16/2017 09:20:30 pm

This has just recently started happening to me. Paint won't stick to entire canvas.
It like oil spots. I normally coat canvas with white acrylic and once dried, then paint.
With the paint not sticking then there's the problem.
Guess I'll go buy some gessum.

10/17/2017 07:32:03 am

Thank you. I am going to Michaels to grab some.
Thank you

Karen link

11/2/2017 12:02:43 pm

Hi Bessie! My apologies for not answering before now - I'm still catching up after the California wildfires (I was evacuated, my home and home studio remained safe and I'm home again, though I did lose my barn studio at the ranch of friends).

Did it solve the problem for you?

All manufacturers currently use acrylic-based gesso on ready-made canvases (to my knowledge), but if you're still having a problem, it might be an older canvas with oil paint on it.

Let me know!

Wishing you happy brushes,
Karen

Grace Buchanan link

10/16/2019 03:53:13 pm

I am having the problem with a canvas board I bought from Hobby lobby to practice a new technique. I did 2 coats of gesso and an under painting. Now I can't get any detail. It just beads up and smears. I don't normally use canvas board. Is this an issue?

Karen

10/17/2019 06:48:34 am

Hi, Grace! Just to double check, your gesso is acrylic-based, right? (Most of them are these days, but it's good to double-check, just in case.)

Next: How long did you let each coat of gesso dry before you painted over it? Though it might have been dry to the touch, depending on how thick the coat is, it takes longer to cure. If it's not completely cured, it's possible that that's affecting what's on top of it.

And, just as a side note, inexpensive canvas boards should be good to practice new techniques on, provided you've got enough gesso on it for your paint to stick to. If you're planning on showing paintings, though, you'll want a more substantial surface — a good quality panel or canvas — that won't bend or warp. And as they get larger, the likelihood of inexpensive canvas boards warping increases.

So they're good for experimentation and learning, and helpful for smaller studies, especially when you're traveling or don't have a lot of space to keep them, but definitely not the quality of surface you'll want to work on for work you'd like to last (or show or sell).

Hoping this helps solve the problem,
Karen

Michel Carreau for Androniki Pitsillides link

1/10/2021 08:55:33 pm

I am a oil painting portrait artist; on my current painting I had to redo the face... remove the oil paint, reapplied gesso, sanded to remove thickness; now the surface is perfectly soft, no texture and the oil paint does not stick to the surface and can't mix the paint on the surface. Any suggestion how I can save my painting? Regards.

Karen Lynn Ingalls link

1/10/2021 09:49:12 pm

Hi Michael! That sounds challenging; you'd think that would work. Is your gesso oil-based or acrylic-based? Oil and water don't mix; that's why acrylic paints won't stick to an oil-painted underpainting or oil-based gesso. Oils will stick to an acrylic underpainting just fine, though.

But if your gesso was an acrylic, water-based gesso, then you might have had problems with IT sticking to the surface because of any remaining oil that might have soaked into the surface, rather than the other way around. And oil paints should stick to acrylic, as I said above.

What kind of gesso did you use? And does the label give any specific information about using it with oil paints?

Hoping that will provide some information to help solve it for you,
Karen

Nina

3/12/2021 07:48:16 pm

Hi! I teach painting classes to kids and someone was nice enough to donate a lot of canvases. Unfortunately, the acrylic paint takes forever to dry on these canvases (much longer than on the canvases I used to buy) and the kids don't like waiting for so long and most of the class is taken up waiting for the background to dry. Do you have suggestions to make the paint dry faster on these canvases? Preferably a cheap and easy way haha Thank you!!

3/13/2021 12:05:08 pm

Hi Nina — Since they were donated, you don't really have a way of knowing what kind of gesso was used to prime the canvases, but I'm wondering if it might have been an oil-based one. Oil and water don't mix, and, although oil paints will stick to an acrylic base just fine, acrylics have problems sticking to an oil-based primer.

If you have unused canvases to check, you can apply a little rubbing alcohol to one and see if it comes off. If it doesn't, then you know it's an oil-based primer. Acrylics will come off with rubbing alcohol.

But if you've already got canvases in progress and don't want to re-do them, you might try heat guns (the kind used for drying artwork) to dry it faster, or hair dryers. It's not an optimal solution, but it might at least get things going for you. Once there's a dry acrylic coating for the other acrylics to stick to, it might work reasonably for your purposes.

For any other canvases that may have an oil-based primer, you might go to your hardware store and look for adhesive acrylic (latex) primers that are intended to go over oil-based house paints. That would give you good coverage, and allow you to paint over the re-primed canvas with acrylic paint. Good luck with your project, and I hope the kids have a good time with it!

Aaaack! My paint won't stick to the canvas!

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