Should You Oil Paint on Wood without Gesso?

While paper or a canvas board require almost no prep, a wooden panel needs extensive preparation before its usable for painting. You need to seal and prime the raw wood before you start painting. Whether you’re painting with acrylic paint or oil paint, priming is a must.

Gesso is a primer designed for artists as it has the special property to make color pigments look more vivid. But Should You Oil Paint on Wood without Gesso? Oil painting on wood without Gesso is possible using other primers and sealants but using artist grade gesso gives the best results with the least effort. To understand better, keep reading our article.

Why Is Priming Needed for Wood?

Before we get to why you should use Gesso for wood, let’s understand why priming is important. You should never use oil paint directly on the wood. Unprimed wood won’t allow the paint to stick to it properly.

And on top of that, if you paint directly, there’s a chance of the paint seeping into the wood and rotting and warping the wood.

When priming is not done properly, a phenomenon called sinking occurs on oil paintings. Sinking is when part of the board absorbs more paints than others, causing disarray in places and a dull look.

Also, you shouldn’t use oil paint directly on wood because you will get a dull color no matter the quality of the paint. As oil paint sinks into the wood when you paint directly, the color coat won’t look crisp and neat. It will somewhat fade into the wood.

Some artists use white oil paints or acrylic paints as a cheap alternative to primers. The white pigment is applied to make the painting more vivid. However, that can result in the paint scraping or chipping off the wood panel.

Why Is Sealing Needed for Wood?

Priming isn’t the only prepping you need before applying oil paint; you also need to seal the wood. Sealing the wood is done before priming. While primer creates an absorbent surface for the paint to adhere to wood, sealing works like a protective coat for both the wood panel and the paint.

Sealing coats protect the paint from soaking the wood grain and, in turn, prevent rotting and staining.

An alternative to sealing is using linseed oil. Linseed oil is used to reduce the absorption by wood. However, linseed oil is more appropriate for woodwork or when painting furniture. If you’re trying to prepare the wood for painting, going with Gesso and sealers will be the better option.

Should You Use Regular Primer or Gesso for Oil Paint and Acrylic Paint?

Now that you understand the purpose of priming and sealing the wood and why you shouldn’t paint directly onto wooden surfaces, let’s get into why you should use Gesso instead of primers.

The first thing to know here is there are different kinds of Gesso; you could even make your own Gesso if you have a few ingredients. All you need is some baby powder, PVA glue, and some white acrylic paint.

Nonetheless, the main reason why we prefer artist grade Gesso is that regular Gesso or primers could cause the paint to leak through to the wood, that is, sink into the wood.

Contemporary art prioritizes the importance of preparations, and the last thing you want is to see your masterpiece rot in front of you because you chose the wrong primer.

What Are the Different Types of Gessoes and Their Alternatives?

There are different kinds of Primers that are used for a variety of purposes. One thing to keep in mind is all Gesso can be a primer, but all primers are not Gesso. But when it comes to painting on wood with Oil Paints, both primers and Gesso can be used. Below we mention five types:

Clear Gesso

Gesso, too, has its variations, with clear Gesso having more chalk like ground. Produced from linseed oil, calcium carbonate, and rabbit skin glue, clear Gesso creates the perfect oil painting ground.

All these items have been used individually for either priming or sealing wood. Therefore, when you use Gesso, you don’t need to seal and prime separately.

Acrylic Gesso

Gesso made using acrylic medium is considered the best Gesso when it comes to the formula. It can be made using a different formula, but the acrylic one is based on acrylic resin. Since it’s colored, it won’t have a clear texture.

But what makes this Gesso so unique is that it is compatible with almost all kinds of paints. So, whether you’re painting with oils or acrylic mediums, you can use this to seal and prime wood adequately.

Matte Medium

If you want a matte finish to your paint, you can use matte medium instead of Gesso. Matte Medium displays a transparent texture but be careful of thick coats as it can make the canvas cloudy.

For oil painting, matte medium is preferred over gloss medium. That’s because gloss medium doesn’t sit well with oil paint. It is better to have a rough structure for oil paintings.

Oil Primer

Oil primer is used for working with wood and metal for both interior and exterior uses. If the wooden surface has stains or marks, oil primers are great for hiding it.

Acrylic Primer

With acrylic primer, you won’t need to size, and it will create a bright white base for your paint. It works with both acrylic mediums and oils so, if you work with different paints, this will be convenient. You can also find variations in acrylic gloss medium and matte mediums.

As you can see, there are many alternatives to Gesso, and to be honest, a lot of it depends on the type of result you want.

Clear Gesso gives you a fresh surface to paint on, while the matte medium has a roughness, making oil stick better. Then you have acrylic and oil, which highlight the whites; as a result, whenever the paint touches the board, you get vibrant colors.

The advantage and sometimes the dilemma of contemporary art is having too many choices. But if you can figure out what you want, you will be grateful for it.

How to Prime Your Wood for Oil Paints and Acrylic Paints?

Preparing wood surface with Gesso reduces the extra steps you’d have to take with primers and other alternatives.

The process is rather simple but can be tedious. First, you need to ensure you have the right surface to paint on. Once you have that covered, before you apply the first coat of Gesso, sand the unprimed wood.

Apply Gesso in even layers. Try not to make thick layers while evening it out. Please wait for it to dry completely before sanding again. Sand and rub off the debris to make the board plain and even.

Next, you apply the second coat of Gesso and repeat the sanding process. You can apply multiple coats until you’re satisfied with the texture of the wood. But generally, two layers of Gesso is enough.

Final Words

You need to make a number of preparations when painting on wood, but using Gesso eases the process. Also, you can use other primers and alternatives, but you will get the best painting surface if you use artist grade Gesso.

So, oil painting on wood without Gesso is possible, and the alternatives are all pretty decent in their own way. But ultimately, Gesso is just more convenient and preferred over the alternatives. Using primers will also add the use of sealants, which you can avoid if you are working with Gesso.