I received my first oil painting set when I was 15. I had been taking art classes in high school and learned how to build the frame and stretch the canvas. Then of course I had to prime it. The inexpensive way we did that in the class was with white house paint after it had been wet and dried to get the wrinkles out. Those were the times when exterior paint had lead in it. Not exactly what I would want to use now.

Thankfully gesso is reasonably priced now and there are also plenty of options for commercially prepared canvases. There are primed stretched canvases, primed canvas boards, canvas or linen covered panels, primed birch panels and unprimed birch panels. If you aren’t a traditionalist there are lots of choices for you now.