DANIEL SMITH Gold Gesso Demonstration with Allison Agostinelli

DANIEL SMITH Gold Gesso Demonstration with Allison Agostinelli

Sundays’ FREE Art demo at the Seattle DANIEL SMITH Store was with Artist Allison Agostinelli showing how DANIEL SMITH Gold Gesso is used for Painting, and not just with Oils and Acrylics but with Watercolors too…it’s Multi-media friendly!  A few years ago Allison attended a FREE DANIEL SMITH demo with Artist Tis Huberth and that demo got her interested in the Gold Gesso which inspired Allison then and there to incorporate it into her Art.  Allison even named her studio in honor of her new direction: The Gold Rabbit Art Studio.  

 
Allison gave us an introduction to what Gesso is, a ground for other mediums (oil, acrylic etc.) and that acrylic gessos are much easier to use than traditional gesso. DANIEL SMITH World’s Best Acrylic Gessos come in eight colors: White, Stone Gray, Buff Titanium, Yellow Ochre, Gold, Burnt Sienna, Venetian Red and Black which provide a cost effective way to provide a tinted ground for your painting rather than using your paint to do it. 
 
DANIEL SMITH “invented the Gold Gesso and is the only one who makes it”, it is composed of Mica, Iron Oxides, Titanium White and the Vehicle is 100% Pure Acrylic Emulsion.  It’s the Mica which gives the Gold Gesso it’s lustre and fyi, the mica is very heavy and will sink to the bottom.  If you have not used your Gold Gesso in while or when you open up your new can, you may find “no gold” because the mica has settled and you will need to mix the can very well to re-suspend the particles.  When you open your can, use a clean palette knife to remove the gesso since contaminates can cause gessos to mold over time.   
 
While Acrylic Gesso is an acrylic product, it is made to be more absorbent than acrylic paint which is why you can paint with watercolor over it.  It does take longer to dry than painting directly on watercolor paper because the paper has lost some of it’s absorbency.  The paper that Allison suggests is cold press watercolor paper with Fabriano and Indian Village paper being her favorites.  The cold press allows the Gold Gesso (when thinned out with water) to settle like granulating watercolor.  Allison used a large Hake brush dipped in water to thin out the Gold Gesso on her palette and brushed it onto the watercolor paper.  A tip from Allison, if you don’t like to stretch paper, like Allison, then gesso the other side, and that will keep it flat without having to stretch the paper.
 
Allison painted DANIEL SMITH Anthraquinoid Red Watercolor onto the gessoed paper, and it was an amazing combination to see.  When painting on a different color ground than white, you may want to do some color charts to see how your colors work on the new surface color.
 
A few of the many tips that Allison shared were:  Acrylic medium is not a sealant and Allison feels that Golden Spray varnish is the best for finishing and protecting your work.  You can mix the different gesso colors and customize your painting ground.  If you don’t like a watercolor painting, paint over it with gesso!  Allison showed us a lovely reference book she made for herself to see different ways to use the DS Gold Gesso, one way she did was “gilde” the deckle edges with the Gold Gesso.  Allison used to work for DANIEL SMITH and is very knowledgeable about different products, so be sure to come next time she’s at a FREE DANIEL SMITH Demo you will be amazed at how much you will learn.
 
*Update: 12-22-09.  You can read an article by Allison from a past DANIEL SMITH catalog on painting with DANIEL SMITH Watercolors and Gold Gesso here:  “Gold Gesso with Watercolor“
DANIEL SMITH Gold Gesso chair at the Bellevue Store

DANIEL SMITH Gold Gesso chair at the Bellevue Store

Thank you Allison!

 
Allison will be doing this FREE demo at the Bellevue DANIEL SMITH Store this coming weekend:
Sunday, July 19th at 12 & 2 pm
MULTI MEDIA: Watercolor on Gold Gesso 
Allison Agostinelli 
 
The first experience I had with DANIEL SMITH Gold Gesso was seeing a wonderful wooden chair used for display at the Bellevue DS Store that had it’s fabric seat painted in DS Gold Gesso.  It looked great and was very practical, the seat could just be wiped off with a sponge to clean!
 
Every Day,  Express Yourself  with  ART….
 
~Deborah Burns
 
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