Priming Services
Artist Surfaces offers a complete priming service to ensure every panel or stretcher arrives ready for professional use. All priming is carried out by hand in our Kent workshop, where our team prepares each surface using a carefully selected range of primers suited to different materials and painting styles. These include GAC 100 for sealing and preparing wooden surfaces, acrylic gesso, absorbent ground, etch primer for aluminium panels, oil primer, and clear sealer for linen and canvas.
Each primer is chosen for the way it improves the performance and longevity of the surface, helping paint adhere, preventing discolouration, and giving artists a consistent surface to work on. Whether an artist prefers a smooth, sealed ground for oils, an absorbent surface for mixed media, or a clear finish that lets linen show through, the team can tailor the priming to suit the desired outcome.
By combining high quality materials like Golden Acrylics with skilled hand application, Artist Surfaces ensures that every primed support is stable, durable and ready for painting. It’s all part of the company’s commitment to providing reliable, finely crafted foundations that support artists in the development of their work.
Gesso Service
Porcelain Smooth Finish
Artist Surfaces provides a Museum Grade Gesso Service that embodies the same dedication to excellence and craftsmanship that artists bring to their own practice. Each panel is meticulously primed by hand, receiving up to 80 coats of Golden Acrylic Gesso and Golden Hard Sandable Gesso to build an exceptionally stable, archival ground. Between applications, the surface is sanded flat to achieve an ultra-smooth, flawless finish, resulting in a porcelain-like ground with no visible undulation.
The brilliant white, non-yellowing Golden Gesso used in this process offers an ideal working surface for both acrylic and oil painting. Its inherent absorbency ensures consistent paint behaviour and a perfect white foundation that enhances clarity, luminosity and long-term durability. This service represents the highest level of preparation available
ECONOMY Gesso Service
Our Economy Gesso Service offers an affordable yet high quality priming option, using museum grade acrylic gesso from Golden Acrylic to ensure reliability and long term stability.
Each surface is hand prepared in our Kent workshop, beginning with three rolled layers of Golden acrylic gesso, applied evenly to build a strong, consistent foundation. Once dry, the surface is carefully sanded to achieve a smooth, refined finish. A final coat of gesso is then applied using a velvet varnishing roller, creating an exceptionally clean surface with minimal texture and excellent tooth for both acrylic and oil painting.
This service balances cost efficiency with professional performance, providing artists with a dependable, well-prepared ground that is ready for immediate use.
GAC 100 Service
Artist Surfaces offers a dedicated GAC 100 sealing service for wooden panels, ensuring a stable, archival foundation before any further priming or painting. GAC 100, produced by Golden Artist Colors, is a high-performance acrylic polymer designed to seal and protect wood by preventing Support Induced Discoloration (SID) and reducing the movement of natural oils, tannins and impurities into the paint layers. Each panel is carefully coated with GAC 100 to create a strong barrier that enhances adhesion, improves surface durability and prepares the wood for subsequent layers of gesso, primer or paint. This essential step ensures a cleaner, brighter ground and significantly increases the long-term stability of the finished artwork.
Aluminium
Etch Priming
Service
Before gesso priming any aluminium panel, Artist Surfaces applies a specialised 2K etch primer formulated specifically for aluminium to ensure maximum adhesion and long-term stability. Aluminium is a non-porous, chemically reactive surface, and without a proper etch layer, gesso can fail to bond, leading to flaking, delamination or uneven absorption over time. The 2K etch primer creates a micro-etched, chemically bonded foundation that securely anchors subsequent layers of Golden Gesso. This process not only improves durability and surface integrity but also ensures that the final gesso layers remain smooth, stable and perfectly prepared for professional painting practice.
Other Priming Services
Artist Surfaces also offers a range of specialist priming options to suit different materials and painting approaches.
Golden Acrylic Absorbent Ground is applied when artists require a highly porous, paper-like surface that enhances watercolour-style washes, fine detail, delicate layering and egg tempera.
For traditional oil painters, our Oil Priming service provides a beautifully smooth, slightly absorbent surface that promotes excellent brushability, extended open time, and long-term film stability. Ideal for classical techniques and fine detail.
We additionally offer Clear Sealing for linen and canvas, using high-quality acrylic polymers to stabilise and protect the fibres while preserving the natural colour and texture of the fabric.
These alternative priming services allow artists to choose the exact surface behaviour they need, ensuring a professional, dependable foundation tailored to their creative process.