Learning the correct way to prime your canvas is a simple but crucial skill for artists working with oil or acrylic paints. Priming seals and protects and makes the canvas less absorbent. It also helps the colours stand out will provide a smoother surfac for the paint to bind onto.

Gesso, pronounced ‘jesso’, traditionally used to prepare or prime a surface so Oil paint would adhere to it. Gesso is the same as a primer, as in ‘pre-primed canvas’. It is made from a combination of paint pigment, chalk and binder.