Steve was great enough to share his artwork with us. He’s a regular Canvas Cubed customer. Thanks for the partonage, Steve!

Many of you know from reading our Gesso 101 posts that Gesso has been around a very long time. The origins of the Easel are much older. The concept of the Easel really is old as man. Necessity being the mother of invention; the first Easel was most likely devised when cavemen leaned pieces of bark against a tree to better view the scratchings they’d made on it with a sharp stone.

Throughout the modern world Easels are in use for so many purposes. There are probably more Easels in use for the creation and presentation of two-dimensional visual arts than any other use. Many of you would also be familiar with Easels used in many ways that go primarily unnoticed, such as fancy brass Easels that may hold a restaurant’s daily special board or the announcement of a reserved space for an event gathering.

We’ll spare you the long standing (pun intended) history of the Easel which has gone from relative obscurity to modern day tool of artists and many industries so that we can get right to information regarding The Easel’s art world applications.

There are a few different types of art easels. Very ornate carved wood or brass easels are often used to hold framed or unframed paintings, photos, drawings or any two-dimensional visual art for display purposes. This is not the most common way to display art for gallery showings and today is used more for display of a prominent individual piece or the prize of a collection at a gallery, museum, or at home.

The two most common easel styles are Tripod and H-Frame designs. Tripod easel designs are based on three legs with variations that include crossbars to make the easel more stable and an independent mechanism to allow for vertical adjustment of the working plane without sacrificing the stability that the three legs of the easel provide.

H-Frame style Easels are based on right angles and provide the most stable base on which to create. The posts are generally parallel to each other with the base of the easel being rectangular. The main portion of the easel consists of two vertical posts with a horizontal crossbar support, thus giving the design the general shape of an “H.”

It’s important to have the right easel. A good easel choice will take into account the type of painting you will be doing, the environment where you’ll be working and of course the scale or size that you’ll be working with.

There are several art production easels most artists are use; tabletop, paintbox, French, sketch, studio, and Taboret.

Tabletop Easels are among the least expensive. They are small so they don’t take up much space; they’re also convenient to store and carry since they’re foldable. Due to the table-top easel’s generally small average size, they aren’t suitable to use with large canvases. Available in both light metal and wood varieties these easels can be ideal for doing close work while seated.

Paint-box Easels make a great portable prop for beginners. In addition to holding your canvas, these easels are also comprised using a container box. The box is to be used for carrying/storing supplies. Great for outdoor painting due to they’re compact portability; the problem with paintbox easels is that they aren’t very stable so a steady platform is advisable.

The French Easel is very versatile. They’re comprised of a canvas carrier, adjustable extending leg tripod easel, and supply box in one package. French Easels are foldable so like the Paintbox and Tabletop Easels they are easy to transport. Many come with straps and/or a briefcase handle to further facilitate mobility. These easels can generally be adjusted for Tabletop use. Ideal for either standing or seated work, French Easels usually incorporate the means to adjust the working angle.

Sketch Easels are incredibly lightweight. They are commonly referred to as display easels because they can be used to display light works of art such as charcoal sketches or the like. However, since these painting easels are so lightweight, they usually don’t offer much stability. The may be ideal for light indoor impromptu work.

Studio Easels are almost always H-Frame Easels though very heavy studio tripods do exist. These easels can be incredibly large and are designed to stand on the floor. Considered the most stable of painting easels, studio easels are quite suitable to use when you need to work with large and deep-edge canvases. As with any standing easel they afford the artist the ability to ’step back’ to view work in progress on the same plane as the completed work will be displayed.

One of the drawbacks of studio easels is that they aren’t portable because they’re so heavy this drawback has the positive effect of allowing for quite vigorous painting. The Artist Studio Easel is as you might have guessed among the most expensive of art easels.

The Taboret Easel is called an easel but is only an easel in the loosest sense of the term in that you may use it (as any countertop) as an art platform. More of a cabinet providing ample storage to keep any work area organized Taboret are available in a wide array of styles and materials.

A Taboret does make an excellent addition to any artist’s studio area accommodating a wide variety of supplies; many Taborets can easily be used to hold a Tabletop Easel and can help make it a breeze to finish deep-edge canvas work. Some of the more robust designs sport several drawers and cabinets endowed with smaller organizational nooks, separations and cubbyholes; a Taboret may be equated to an artist’s ‘roll-top’ desk (sans Roll-top of course).

Well there you have it; a rundown of the easels most appropriate for artistic endeavors. Without any further ado or loud rebellion you should now be ready, armed with the links and info in this post, to take a stand for your art by acquiring an easel.

If you’ll recall from where we left off last time; we have pigment and we have binder. Here comes the answer you’ve been kept in suspense over. The primary factor in different grades of paint is the ratio of pigment to binder.

Binder comes in several differing forms, some runny, some thick, some sticky, and some jelly-like. Regardless the type, binder is generally much less expensive than pigment which is often derived from pure and sometimes rare elements. Thus paint with more binder and less pigment in the mix will be less expensive to manufacture than one with a lot of pigment, and less binder.

This ratio is called the Pigment Load.

Lower grade paints have a low pigment load, which makes them less expensive. The very best grades of paint have a high pigment load ratio. This applies to virtually all paints on the planet—watercolors, acrylics, oils, exterior paint, you name it!

Though there are varying costs for the different types of binder, delivery and storage method; the biggest difference between ‘cheap’ and quality paint -between inexpensive and quite costly, is usually all about the pigment load ratio. Of course at the upper end, the source, rarity, purity and type of pigment become primary factors in the price of the paint.

Acrylic Paint Grades

Artist (grade) acrylics have a high amount of pigment and contain little to no fillers which make them a top of line product. An artist can paint on a variety of surfaces with this grade of acrylic. Paper, canvas, and wood panels are just a few to mention.

Iridescent, pearlescent, interference, and metallic (grade) acrylics are a mix of conventional pigments with mica particles with a veneer of titanium dioxide. This combination of elements creates the lustrous shimmer of precious metals and mother-of-pearl.

Student (grade) acrylics have, sometimes, as little as half the amount of pigment of artist grade acrylic but have a high amount of filler. They are much economical than artist grade but do have some limitations to them. The biggest limitation to them, that I can see, is the lack of range of colors.

Incidentally, there’s no reason at all to spend the extra shekels on the higher-grade paints until you’ve used student grade to ‘flesh out’ an image on your prepared surface. It generally takes several applications to fill in for the absent pigment anyway, so if you like the way a piece is turning out you can always get the artist grade to go over and complete the painting.

Gouache (grade) acrylic has a couple similarities to the traditional gouache such as it’s opaqueness and matte finish, yet unlike the traditional it’s waterproof once dry.

Craft (grade) acrylics has a lot of the same characteristics of student grade acrylics. It’s a great economical choice to paint on everyday items such as wood, metal and fabrics to spruce them up. The another great benefit of craft paints over student grade is the great variety of colors available.

Exterior (grade) acrylic, our last but certainly not least. Although I was kidding about exterior grade acrylic paints earlier they are often used as artistic medium and are available in in several grades or pigment load levels themselves. As is apparent by their name they are formulated to withstand outdoor conditions. Exterior acrylic can adhere to a variety of surfaces to create murals, signs, and accentuate any architecture features. Think about it for a moment; exterior acrylic paint is seen more than any other grade of acrylic paint. I’m not speaking of the homeowner’s annual or biannual preventative coat. The murals in public outdoor venues are definitely viewed on a much larger scale than the masterpieces in art museum collections or small galleries.

Did that help clear up any ambiguity regarding the differences in grades of acrylic paint? Hopefully you now have a much better understanding of the differences as well as some creative ideas about how to use the various grades of acrylic based paints. More options to add to the mix when devising the creation of your vision. Enjoy!

You probably think all you need to know is that one is better then the other and cost’s a whole lot more. Maybe you believe that a professional artist would never use “Student” grade paint; or that a student or amateur has no place using the higher-grade paint made especially for “real” artists. You’d be wrong on each count. Just as you use brushes and/or palette knives of different shape, size or material to achieve myriad desired effects; the grades of Acrylic Paints are different tools in your art supply to enhance your repertoire and aid in enabling you to realize the image seen in your mind’s eye. Might we suggest a fine Benjamin Moore; we hear it wears well, holds up to the elements, goes on easy and can increase your home’s value for years to come.

All kidding aside; when it comes to Acrylic Art Paints there are several grades made by a fair number of well-known art paint manufacturers (and some not quite so well known); some of the companies that originally manufactured house-paint went into the retail art paint business.

Acrylic paint like all paint is basically a combination of two things; pigment, which gives the paint its color; and binder, which holds the pigment to the surface and gives the paint its consistency and working properties.

If you’ve ever opened an old bottle or tube of paint, or even an old can of exterior latex you’ve noticed the clear liquid that comes out of the tube or bottle, or the layer of clear liquid floating in the can. That’s the binder that has separated from the pigment.

Acrylic Paint Storage Side note: That separating of pigment from binder is an annoying phenomenon and the reason it’s so important to make sure your tube paints are fresh and kept capped. If you use bottle paints they should be stored bottom up and shaken before use; and always be sure your paint cans are thoroughly mixed and then well stirred to avoid air bubbles since there isn’t time for the bubbles created by mixing to rise and escape.

Come back soon when we’ll let you in on the main difference between grades of paint as well as better understanding the different grades of Acrylic Paint that exist and some of their suggested uses.

Sun drenched beaches, big blue skies, rain forest, palm trees swaying in the breeze with the backdrop of an island sunrise; or sunset; or even midday. In a word, paradise! “Tropical Paradise” is a phrase long associated with the Hawaiian Islands. I don’t know about you, but where I live it’s cold, real cold. An island getaway sounds almost perfect just about now. It was 80 degrees on ‘The Big Island’ today -not too hot, just right!

The Good News: This little Oceanside retreat is on the less touristy, less crowded ‘Big Island’ of Hawaii promising the peace and serenity and the views that any artist would appreciate, along with most of the creature comforts that anyone that can afford it would appreciate.

The Bad News: Paradise doesn’t come cheap! It all comes at a (fairly steep) price. Even with the discount stipend this Artist-In-Residence Program isn’t for the starving artist by any means.

The Location

Kalani encompasses 120 acres on the southeast coast of Hawaii Island, also known as “the Big Island”.  The retreat is a 45-minute drive from the airport in Hilo, or a 2.5-hour drive from the airport in Kona. Hawaii is considerably less crowded and less commercial than the other Hawaiian Islands, and offers a variety of spectacular natural attractions. Kalani is located near Kilauea, one of the world’s most active volcanoes. The dramatic lava cliffs of the Kalani coastal area provide for close-up views of Turtles and Dolphins as well as seasonal whale watching. The cliff also provides a marvelous haven for sunbathing, meditation, yoga or Tai Chi.

Nearby attractions include:
• Natural black Sand Beach (clothing optional), frequented by dolphins
• Volcanoes National Park, where lava has been actively flowing since 1983
• Tidal pools for splashing and Snorkeling
• Natural Steam Baths
• Bays for Fishing and Kayaking
• Spectacular Waterfalls
• Historic Villages and Farmers’ Markets
• Botanical Gardens, and Anthurium and Orchid Farms

You can visit attractions on your own or as part of a guided Kalani Adventure. Kalani enjoys Hawaii’s ideal climate: light ocean breezes, sunny days, pleasant year-round temperatures (65-85°F) and occasionally a tropical shower.

The Digs

“Kalani Oceanside Retreat offers artists the opportunity to experience the beauty of rural Hawaii combined with the stimulation of an international cultural center. Residency provides the artist with the incentive to complete works in progress or to strike out in new directions.”

“Kalani offers various types of simple but comfortable accommodations including tree houses, cottages, lodge rooms and campsites. Working spaces, other than your accommodations are usually limited, shared, and must be kept intact and presentable for others. The lodges have a multipurpose studio space with lawn and ocean vistas. Visual artists and dancers use the studio spaces as available. Writers generally work in their rooms, outdoors, or in the cafe. Every effort is made to protect the artist’s privacy and or solitude during working hours, and telephone messages are delivered only in an emergency or upon request.”

There Are Stipends

“Stipends provide for a reduction of lodging and meal costs, saving you as much as $1,600 per month. Although paradise prevails year-round, stipends are available mainly from May-July and September-December. Minimum stay is 2 weeks; maximum stay is 3 months. Artists in all categories are welcomed year-round, at regular accommodation rates.

Additional credits may be available to artists who make significant contributions to the Kalani community and/or facility. Any contribution must be approved in advance, and the agreed upon value will not be credited until the completion of the project.”

The Selection Process

More Good News: As you might imagine Kalani is a ‘Retreat’ with a goal to help visitors achieve the calm, peace and serenity they’ve come so far to find. In maintaining a positive environment conducive to that end, Kalani is a very non-judgmental community and as such it has very little criteria for entry into the Artist-In-Residence Program. The program is open to any kind of artist for any type of artistic endeavor. Writers, Poets, Painters, Sculptors, Potters, Musicians, Performance Artists and Photographers … all welcome at Kalani’s Artist-In-Residence Program.

Merely contact the Kalani reservation desk if you would like to apply; indicate what type of art you create, when you would like to stay at Kalani, and how you think you would benefit from this experience.

Aloha!

Kalani Oceanside Retreat
RR2, Box 4500
Pahoa, HI 96778
(800) 800 6886 toll-free, US & Canada
(808) 965 7828 worldwide
(808) 965 0468 main office

Jan Wetstone first developed Mod Podge® in the 1960s in her garage. Produced by the Plaid Creative Group, formerly just “Plaid”; the name of this now famous mixture came from the term “Modern Decoupage.” Jan tested Mod Podge® on all kinds of surfaces; she even decoupaged an entire VW Beetle using bed sheets! Over the years, Mod Podge® has grown to become a favorite of artists and crafters everywhere.

I’m going into depth regarding Mod Podge® because it is a great product. I’ve used many of the several types of Mod Podge® for different projects.Though important enough to warrant it’s own addendum “What has Gesso to do with Mod Podge®?” you may well ask.

Discussion of Mod Podge® belongs here because it is so closely related and in as wide usage today as is particularly ‘Student’ grade Gesso. Mod Podge® can serve as a marvelous replacement for -or addition to your use of Gesso in preparing your ground; whether on canvas, wood, plastic or glass: there’s a surprising array of surfaces on which Mod Podge® will work. Mod Podge® has come a long way since its invention in the 1960s. Recently celebrating it’s 40^th anniversary, this versatile product is available in so many different forms and finishes and is relatively inexpensive. Mod Podge® comes pre-mixed in a large variety of formulas to serve in almost any application. For those not familiar with Mod Podge® it’s basically an all-in-one glue, sealer and finish, fairly well known among artists and crafters of every style and skill level for its versatility, dependability and value. It works as glue to adhere paper, fabrics and other porous materials to almost any surface; it holds tight and can dry clear. It’s a sealer that protects decoupage, montage/ collage, acrylic paint and stain, fabric and much more! It can be very durable, smooth and fast drying! It’s Non-toxic and cleans up with soap and water making it as excellent a choice for yourself as for the budding young artists in your family. There is an outdoor formula that will quite efficiently protect your work from all but the harshest of weather. There is also an acid-free formula so that for instance paper will not deteriorate. There is even a light-activated Glow-in-the-dark formula. The possibilities are endless!

Many artists are using Mod Podge® and Gesso very successfully in creating art journals and artist trading cards. Both Acrylic Gesso and Mod Podge® work very effectively to seal and add rigidity to the pages themselves and to aid in adherence of almost anything. You could for instance submerge an entire dried blossom in Mod Podge®; allow the excess to run off and the blossom to dry, thus sealing the blossom from deterioration and fading. Both products easily make the crossover from artist journalizing to scrapbooking.

I love options, how about you? Now you can add Mod Podge®, another multifaceted Gesso-like tool to your arsenal of art supplies and techniques. Perhaps you’ll come up with innovative ways to make use of different Gesso from suggested uses for the various Mod Podge® formulas.

This completes our Bloginar on Gesso. Thank you for attending. Hopefully we’ve supplied you with enough to give you the impetus to forge out on your own in discovering the wonders of the many brands and varieties of Gesso as well as imagining techniques and effects achievable through it’s creative uses.

Part III: MORE FUN WITH GESSO (The Topcoat Sealant)

We hope we’ve gotten you thinking about what Gesso can do for you, and what you could do using Gesso and some imagination.

Remember, a gesso has a little bit tooth or texture so an artist’s paint has a surface in-which to adhere to. Depending on preference though, an artist can remove the tooth but keep the original properties of the gesso (paint bonding & protecting the substrate) intact by using a sand-able gesso.

Using the right gesso is something an artist needs to keep in mind when planning out their piece. What are the properties of the paint? What kind of surface is going to be used? What is the desired effect? All of these variables need to be taken into consideration to have the desired outcome.

Just as there are different grades of house paint; there are different grades of art paint; and as you might have guessed there are different grades of gesso. We’ll be addressing the differences between art paints in more depth at another time. Suffice it to say that art paints and gesso are both available in ‘student’ and professional or ‘artist’ grade products. In general, artist grade gesso contains more pigment and less filler. This gesso has superior covering power and doesn’t require more than two coats. Student grade gesso contains same amount of filler as an artist grade gesso, but has less pigment. With less pigment in the mix, it will require a few more coats than the artist grade gesso.

There is another readily available product very similar to Gesso in character and performance most likely more well known by crafters than painting artists. The product was invented in the 1960’s and goes by a name befitting its era of origin. Do you know it? If you guessed Mod Podge®, you’re right.

That will take us right into our Gesso 101: A Gesso Primer - Mod Podge® Addendum (The Other Primer Coat –It’s Not Just For Decoupage Anymore!)

If you’d like to stay we’ll be continuing after a short break. For those of you that would like to get on with your weekend, you’re welcome and encouraged to return for the material at your convenience.

It may surprise you to find out that Gesso has had many uses in the Art world in addition to a basecoat canvas primer for painting. The advent of the various types of modern day acrylic Gesso merely widened the already broad range of uses for Gesso. Gesso has been used by sculptors to prepare the shape of a final sculpture or directly as a material for sculpting. It can also be used as a layer between sculpted wood and gold leaf and in this way has been used in creating raised gilding. A semi-porous ‘Gesso’ (chalk) block is available which can be sculpted with chisel and/or sandpaper (or any of the tools you might

come up with) and then finished in almost any manner. Although somewhat fragile by nature this medium is sturdy enough, while being much easier to work with than granite or marble and still giving the finished appearance of those much harder types of stone.

These examples point out how vital Gesso can be to the artists’ arsenal of tools and mediums.

There are myriad uses for Gesso in it’s many forms; as a primer for the painters canvas it would typically be applied over an initial coat of sizing which would seal the canvas and prevent absorption. The Gesso would then be laid on as a topcoat to the sizing- providing a smoother sealed surface while providing some tooth for ease of application of almost any chosen medium (i.e. Oil, Acrylic or Watercolor).

Gesso can also be used in a thicker form as a Build-up on your canvas or other painting surface. A knife and coarse brush as well as any texturing tool you might imagine can be used to ’sculpt’ the desired texture. The ‘build-up’ can be quite thick but keep in mind the weight of the preparation i.e. Gesso and paint that will go onto a canvas. If there is to be much impasto work you may want to consider a stronger surface such as Masonite or a thick Lucite or Plexiglass when the longevity of the piece is a factor.

When it comes to longevity of our Art -when is it not a factor?

Tibetan monks create the most time consuming tediously intricate works of art using millions of grains of powdered colored marble, powdered pigmented sand, flowers and herbs, even precious or semiprecious stones have traditionally been incorporated into the design. Sometimes they spend weeks in the creation of a single Mandala image only to sweep it all away to the winds after a few prayers. (The Monks probably retrieve the gemstones; wouldn’t ya’ think?)

Most other artists take into account the potential need for archival longevity of their work -the ability of a piece of art to stand the ravages of time through the ages. Perhaps you believe the maintenance and upkeep would best be left to the owner and enjoyer of that piece of art. Wouldn’t it still be in good manner to provide this future benefactor of your work a head-start as it were, in preventing the onset of decay in their effort to preserve your work for their own posterity. A good example to keep in mind when considering the lasting nature of your piece is that of the philosophy regarding the use of Oil based paints on Acrylic Gesso. It is acceptable to paint in oils over Acrylic Gesso, it has been stated though, by archival experts, that it is unwise to paint in oils over Acrylic Gesso because–unlike time-tested alternatives such as animal based glue–the oil paint will eventually delaminate from the Acrylic Gesso surface. This effect may not make itself manifest for several decades and then mostly affecting thick impasto. The cause for this problem is the inability of oil paint to establish both physical and chemical bonds with the acrylic base. Applied to a canvas that has been primed with animal-skin glue, oil paint is able to penetrate the ground (which is porous, unlike Acrylic Gesso) and establish a permanent bond, both chemical and physical. There exist today better alternatives for Oil Painting preparation which will be a topic for another time.

Acrylic paint and Acrylic Gesso go together like… well… like any two things that go together very well! As I’ve not-so-subtly intimated earlier, there are many types of Gesso available; thick and thicker, or thin and runnier. There are also different types of additives that will allow you to control the textures and viscosity of various forms of Gesso. Colored Gesso is also available now in a rainbow variety. The white pigmenting is removed and different pigmentation is added. There is even Clear (colorless translucent) Gesso that can be used for top/layer sealing, base coating or anything else you can dream up. You can quite successfully add Acrylic paint or many pigmenting additives to create the color you desire. You can also creatively use Gesso mixed with whatever you need in order to cover up mistakes, even big mistakes. (No one need know but us) In fact Gesso is FANTASTIC for starting over. Starting over from any surface that will hold the Gesso is easy. Or begin again on a canvas once started, never to be finished. Some fresh Gesso and a roller and Voila! Tabula Rasa!

Some Gessos provide a smoother surface, while others offer a surface with more tooth. Some Gessos are more absorbent than others; try out a small jar from each of several brands and choose the one that works best for you and the situational dynamic of the piece you have in mind. Even with the time saving convenience of a pre-primed canvas every artist should count Gesso among their staple supplies; its versatility approaches a kind of panacea, potentially useful in many stages of painting creation and so much more!

Now just to briefly recap and wrap up, tidy up, clear our workspaces and drive home the points we’ve learned in this session:

• Gesso Is Way More than just a Canvas Priming substance!
• If your not already familiar and comfortable working with Gesso - Change That!
• Gesso can help preserve your art!
• You can fix mistakes and start fresh with a little help from the Methuselah of painting - Good Ol’ Gesso!
• A few coats of gesso can turn even the most mediocre painting surface into a heavenly place to paint.
• Uses for Gesso are limited only by your imagination

Check back soon for PART III: MORE FUN WITH GESSO (The Topcoat Sealant) in our mini ongoing bloginar- Gesso 101: A Gesso Primer.

PART I: What Is Gesso? (The Historical Undercoat)

Gesso is an Italian word meaning simply “Chalk” or “Board Chalk”. The substance we today call Gesso has existed in one form or other almost since the beginning of time. That may be a slight exaggeration. It has however been noted by historians that Gesso was being used as early as thousands of years BC, and certainly as long as anything man has created that can be equated to modern day painting. The history of Gesso, as one might imagine, is intertwined with the history of painting itself. The actual origins of ancient ‘Gesso’ are mysteriously unknown. It is however widely believed that the origins of the products we use today called Gesso, originated in Italy.

The ground (or base substrate) on which 13th- and 14th-century Florentine artists painted was usually a ‘Plaster-of-Paris’ -like mixture, known as Gesso. The method of preparing a ‘panel’ was first to fill all the cracks and crevices in a Poplar, Lime, or Willow panel, with a mixture of size (a sticky binding substance made with glue, wax or clay) and sawdust. The panel was then covered with a piece of fine linen cloth, which was kept in place with size, and this surface was coated with heavy Gesso, known as “Gesso Grasso”. Finally, a lighter Gesso coating called “Gesso Sottile”, which provided the painting surface, was laid on with a brush.

In Geology, the Italian “Gesso” corresponds to the English “Gypsum”, as it is a calcium sulfate compound, thus ‘Gesso’ is literally a powdered form of the mineral Calcium Carbonate widely used in art. Gesso (chalk powder) was traditionally mixed with animal glue to use as an absorbent primer coat for panel painting with tempera paints (the earliest form of painting known which can be equated to modern day painting). Originally Gesso provided a permanent and brilliant white substrate, as long as it is used on wood or Masonite. This mixture was/is rather brittle and susceptible to cracking, thus making it unsuitable for priming canvas.

Flash forward… (A cheap literary trick -but effective just the same)

In 1955, an Acrylic paint company called Liquitexdeveloped the first water-based acrylic Gesso. Modern Gesso is a mixture of calcium carbonate with a pigment and an Acrylic polymer medium, latex. The pigment added is usually titanium dioxide or titanium white; along with other chemicals that ensure flexibility, and ensure long archival life.

Modern gesso retains the absorbent qualities of older gesso but is more flexible, and can therefore be used very efficiently on canvas. It can also be colored during the manufacturing process by replacing the titanium white with other pigments. The artist can also color the Gesso using watercolor, acrylic paint, or another coloring agent, in order to tint the surface to be painted. Canvases with Gesso pre-applied are commonly available commercially.

We get the picture that Gesso has indeed had a long illustrious (and lustrous) history.

Check back soon for PART II: Gesso For The Artist (The Foundation Layer) the next installment in our mini ongoing bloginar - Gesso 101: A Gesso Primer.

As a member of Alaska’s Denali Artist-In-Residence Program inspiration abounds. Certainly it would be a privilege to behold the diversity present in our nation’s 49th state; much of which still exists in a nearly pristine condition.

The Bad News -The selection process for this year was completed this past November; the participants have already been selected for 2009.

The Good News - It’s not too late to try for a spot in the program for 2010, ‘11 ‘12 and beyond..

Though the Denali Artist-in-Residence Program is no longer open to Photographers (because there are other such Programs more specifically addressing that medium) it is still open to any other visual medium of creative and cultural expression.

The Denali National Park and Preserve’s attitude is expressed in there own stated credo- “In keeping with National Park Service arts-related programs across the country; Denali National Park and Preserve embraces the strong connection between arts and culture and the land that the National Park Service is entrusted to protect and share with the public.”

“Artists have had a major impact on the creation and development of America’s national parks since the beginning of the national park movement. Dramatic nineteenth century paintings of the western landscape raised public consciousness about the natural wonders of the west and helped stimulate interest in their preservation. In fact, public response to Thomas Moran’s splendid landscape paintings done on the Hayden U.S. Geological Survey of the Yellowstone region in 1871 led directly to the creation of America’s first national park.”

Since 1984, numerous national parks have begun Artist-in-Residence programs. With the establishment of this program, Denali National Park joins the list of those parks which seek to recognize and support the role played by artists in preservation and interpretation of our country’s natural wonders.

The Digs
The Artist-in-Residence program at Denali National Park began in 2001 and has grown to allow for 3 - 4 professional artists each summer; each for 10-day stays affording the artists the opportunity to pursue their work amidst the natural splendors of Denali Park. The park currently provides the use of the historic East Fork Cabin (a.k.a. Murie Cabin) for ten-day periods from June through August. The cabin is located 43 miles into the park, in a dramatic setting on the East Fork of the Toklat. A rustic but well-equipped base from which to work and explore, the 14′ x 16′ cabin has an outhouse, propane heater, range, oven, refrigerator, bunk beds, and a full complement of cooking equipment. There is no electricity or running water, but water jugs may be replenished at Park Ranger stations and visitors’ facilities, and showers are available at the Toklat Ranger Station 12 miles from the cabin. Artists chosen must be comfortable with these spartan conditions in a wilderness setting. Other accommodations may be available in the future. There is No stipend provided.

The Selection Process
Acceptance to the Denali Artist-In-Residence Program is subject to a panel of artists and National Park Service personnel appointed by the Superintendent of Denali National Park which reviews applications from professional artists annually. Selection is made on the basis of required entry materials, vision, new and innovative ways of responding to the park, and recognized accomplishment as demonstrated in those materials.

For more information on the Denali Artist-In-Residence Program follow the links below.

Denali National Park and Preserve Arts Program

Denali Artist-In-Residence Program

History of the Denali Artist-in-Residence Program

Sample (2009) Denali Artist-in-Residence Application