Gesso Workshop, Florence, Italy

January 20th, 2012

I just finished a long, fun, and exhausting workshop learning to create gesso panels by hand. My teacher, Adam Markovic, taught me the centuries old technique of making the glue paste and finish that the old masters used as a base to then paint their beautiful paintings. It took three long days – the longest was the gesso applying day which was 8 1/2 hours! We started with sanding the panels, then making the glue itself  with rabbit skin plus calcium carbonate which we kneaded together. I felt as though I was making bread as the temperature must be perfect, the consistency must be perfect, and the timing of those two processes must be perfect. Yesterday it all came together and we were able stain the gesso with colors. Yeah! It was so much fun and I found that I wanted to make each one a piece of art so decided to concentrate on a few here and work on the rest at home. You can actually keep working on them for months. The one shown here is where I accidentally spilled solvent on it but I really liked what it did. I learned so much about the craft and technique from this workshop and have a deeper appreciation of the artists whose paintings lend such beauty to our world.