Preparing a Canvas: Finishing

Video Transcript

"Alright, so it is dry. It is ready to paint. The reason that we have, it is ready to go and one of the things that means it is ready is the whiteness of the gesso. I didn't mention that before, but it is really nice to have a white surface area that you are starting from. When you would have a piece of paper they usually come in a nice, bright white color and that is the surface area you are going to want to start from when you are using colors because then when you start applying colors to this canvas which is made bright white from the gesso your colors are going to have a trueness to them and a brightness from working on the white background. Also you are not going to be influenced by other colors. Like, if you start from a blue background, what you put on there is going to be influenced by the color of the background. So, you want to have it nice and white, everything smooth, nothing is transparent, back looks good, you can't see any edges. Just check over everything and make sure it is ready to go and you start painting."