A gesso question...

[melissa17s]

Recently, dh decided to get back into painting, which I am all for! So, he stretched a couple of canvases and applied gesso. He is working in a room that used to be garage, so even though it has heat... it is always cold- maybe around 65 f. Anyway the gesso warped and wrinkled on the surface of the canvas. On the underside the canvas is taught and shows no sign of wrinkles. He put 2-3 layers of gesso on waiting about 24 hours between application. He did not dilute at all. Oh, and the gesso he was using was called Demco and indicated that it could be mixed with water.

So here are my questions:
1. Why is this happening? was the the gesso to thick or would temp. affect?
2. Is there a way to remove the wrinkles (scrapping?), so that the canvas can be salvaged?

Thanks,
Melissa

[melissa17s]

Ok, so we found a couple of remedies. 1. we brought them into the warmer section of the house. 2. we wet the canvas on the back with a damp rag, and let it dry, and the ripples seem to be going away.