Using Gesso on Fabric

I came across this idea by accident. I think I was trying to create a surface on fabric on which to paint or draw, but what I ended up with was an interesting effect. By applying the gesso letting it dry and then painting over in acrylic inks, I created an almost masking effect. Where there was no gesso, the paint soaked into the fabric and created intense colour, but where the gesso was, the colour was much lighter.

I tried this effect before and posted some of my examples on Instagram. One of my favourites I did was taking a print bubble wrap with gesso. I decided that I wanted to try this effect again.

I thought some of these would work really well with the addition of stitch. My embroidery skills are still very much a work in progress, but this is what I have come up with so far. I think I might need to use more contrasting colours to make the stitches stand out more, but so far so good.