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We "lead heads" will soon be going underground. Production of PVC pipe has been the continuing "excuse" for maintaining production of basic lead carbonate, and I understand that after years of striving to "get the lead out", the plastic pipe industry has at last succeeded in dispensing with it. Given the general (uninformed) consensus of public opinion that using lead compounds in any form, for any purpose, is not only not "ecological", but the moral equivalent of Satanism and child-rape, the writing is on the wall for oil painters who have become accustomed to using it.
That said, (and since you asked) I will continue to prime canvas with a lead-white ground so long as it remains available. Simply put, it is the best painting ground for stretched canvas.
For rigid supports, "real" gesso (hide glue, gypsum, whiting) is an excellent choice.
Back to stretched canvas, an oil ground of whiting (chalk, "marble dust" et al i.e., calcium carbonate) is a reasonable possibility. Its primary purpose is to fill the interstices of coarse canvas to provide a smooth ground. Done properly, it will not crack or cause other problems. Unless one insists on painting on a white canvas, simply sizing raw canvas with rabbit skin glue provides a slightly rough, rather absorbent (but pleasant, nonetheless) surface to paint on, with the added attraction of being a warm, mid-value ground to begin painting on.
Titanium white mulled in linseed oil would be an "okay" ground, if applied lean. To get around the annoying slow drying of titanium, turps and a siccative could be added to the primer. Be aware the over-use of driers may cause eventual discoloration and possibly other surface failures. My preference would be lead naphthenate, but there's that infernal lead again!
Since the major complaint against introducing alkyds into oil paints is ample and abundant proof of delamination, it seems entirely counter-intuitive to consider an alkyd primer. There is a loophole however; if it's abraded (sanded) to provide a mechanical "key" for the subsequent paint layer to grip, adhesion may be adequate, and delamination avoided. It's workable to give a primed surface a good sanding, but one can't very well do that between applications when developing a finished painting.
Last, there's nothing particularly wrong with acrylic polymer "gesso" for a painting ground. If it's applied VERY SPARINGLY , the "eternal flexibility" of acrylic polymers is a moot issue. Heavy applications of acrylic materials under oil paint would become a problem, however. My prejudice against acrylic "gesso" primers is their inert ingredients (besides titanium white) are invariably abrasive in the extreme, and the stuff is really cruel to brushes. It's a necessary aspect of acrylic gesso, however, because without those ingredients to yield an absorbent film, adhesion of oil paint would be problematic.
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