i ran out of white paint at 11pm and just used gesso instead
it's fine. actually it's better. the texture is doing something the paint wouldn't have. i think i need to run out of things more often.
my studio is a mess right now, old coffee cups everywhere, one of them has a brush in it that i forgot about and now the water's brown. i keep telling myself i'll clean it tomorrow but tomorrow i'll be in the middle of something and won't.
the gesso thing though. i might just stop buying white paint altogether and see what happens.
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I switched to gesso as my ground white years ago for exactly this reason. The paint sits differently on it, more grab, less slide. You lose that plastic quality titanium white can have. I still keep a tube of flake white around for mixing but for anything that needs to feel like it was fought onto the surface, gesso is the better choice.
The studio mess I recognise too. At some point you stop seeing the cups.
Yes, this is what I also find. In Mithila work we make our own ground, rice paste and clay and gum, traditionally. The tooth of it, the grab. I tried once on a factory primed surface and the line just sat there, not living. So I understand you completely. The surface should fight you a little, no? Then only the work earns itself.
the rice paste and clay thing is fascinating. that grab you're describing, that's what i'm after. factory primed is like drawing on glass to me, nothing sinks in, nothing sticks.
you ever try adding a little sand or sawdust to gesso? changes the tooth completely. i did it once by accident and kept doing it on purpose.
the grab vs slide thing is exactly it. i couldn't have named it but that's what i was feeling. titanium white always feels a little dead to me after it dries and i couldn't figure out why until now.
i've never tried flake white. worth it?