To varnish or not to varnish
her...@linknet.com.au
I'd like opinions of whether oil paintings need to be varnished.
I have gloss varnished little ones, wax varnished bumpy ones and
semi-glossed others. Mostly now I paint thinly and flatly. There does often
seem to be a need to varnish in terms of getting the painting uniform in
shiney and dull bits.
Does anyone know how necessary it is? Is it needed as protection against
cigarette smoke and other pollutants?
I am partly asking because there's a couple of large paintings sold and
waiting to be picked up. I am a little nervous as I haven't varnished any
this large before.
Thanks,
Zom
Ken Beyer
The framers I've spoken say it's an 'either or' kind of thing with varnish; if you going to frame behind glass then it's not absolutely necessary to varnish the oil painting. They do recommend framing behind glass though for all sorts of reasons.
What your talking about re the 'shiny and dull bits' is called 'wetting' it's due to inconsistencies in how much oil is present in the paint when you apply it to the canvas (or whatever you are painting onto!).
If you paint is 'dry' (i.e. has little oil/medium mixed into it) then when you apply varnish over the top of that it's effectively soaked up into the paint. It's not a good idea to use varnish to iron out this problem (I'm reading between the lines here but you've probably found it quite difficult to get the shiny and dull bits to match up!!!) you should be aiming to do this with the 'medium' that you use for mixing you paint.
Most of the artists I've come across use some form of medium, shop bought and 'branded' to 'home made' recipe (I personally use the latter!).
Hope this is of some help to you
Ken Beyer
UK based Artist Painter
http://www.telinco.co.uk/beyer/splash.htm
Jewel
says...
>
>Hello everyone,
>
>I'd like opinions of whether oil paintings need to be varnished.
Usually I try to defer to the authority on such matters,
Ralph Mayer's ARTIST's HANDBOOK. But in this case I don't
know of anywhere that Mayer says 'oil paintings MUST be
varnished.' He certainly implies it when he says "...and
it is my experience that it is better to varnish a painting
too soon than to run the greater danger of subjecting an
unvarnished oil painting to exposure for too long a period."
In another chapter in the book there is a definition
of 'picture varnish' "A final coating for oil or tempera
paintings, both for protective purposes and to produce a
desired uniform finish."
Prevention of chemical reactions from air
pollutants reacting with the paint pigments is the principal
reason to use a final varnish to isolate the oil paint
from the atmosphere.
If for no other reason you should varnish an oil or
tempera painting so that dust which accumulates on the
surface, along with other grime and pollutants, can easily
be removed with mild soap and water solution when cleaning
is needed without damaging the underlying oil layers.
Personally, I have always varnished using a very thin
aerosol spray coating just as soon as the painting is
dry to the touch. I will then apply a second and sometimes
third layer at a later date if there is reason to need
a more uniform look -- ie; a need to blend matte areas
with glossy ones.
Ken Beyer
I asked my restoration chap. Whatever you do DON'T put water anywhere near the painting. As I suspected he would he asked what kind of damage has been done, I said I didn't know.
The problem is that when paintings get damaged in this way the heat from the fire actually melts the varnish and if there is soot or any thing else present when the varnish dries all this stuff is encapsulated in the varnish.
He suggested that to test what type of damage has been done you can (odd as this is going to sound, it seems the technique favoured by restorers!) cut a potato in half and gently rub the painting (it's alkaline based and won't dissolve the varnish!). If the dirt comes off doing this and it's your own work you can gently
wipe the painting with spirits & non lint cloth etc.
If nothing happens with the potato thing then you need to get it to a restorer as to clean a painting is a lot more complex then just wiping it down with a cloth cover in spirits!! (he then went into details as to what is generally done, but it depends on the type of paint used the type of varnish etc. etc.
Quite complex.
Ken Beyer wrote:
Are you framing these paintings?? Do you frame them behind glass?
The framers I've spoken say it's an 'either or' kind of thing with varnish; if you going to frame behind glass then it's not absolutely necessary to varnish the oil painting. They do recommend framing behind glass though for all sorts of reasons.
What your talking about re the 'shiny and dull bits' is called 'wetting' it's due to inconsistencies in how much oil is present in the paint when you apply it to the canvas (or whatever you are painting onto!).
If you paint is 'dry' (i.e. has little oil/medium mixed into it) then when you apply varnish over the top of that it's effectively soaked up into the paint. It's not a good idea to use varnish to iron out this problem (I'm reading between the lines here but you've probably found it quite difficult to get the shiny and dull bits to match up!!!) you should be aiming to do this with the 'medium' that you use for mixing you paint.
Most of the artists I've come across use some form of medium, shop bought and 'branded' to 'home made' recipe (I personally use the latter!).
Hope this is of some help to you
Ken Beyer
UK based Artist Painter
http://www.telinco.co.uk/beyer/splash.htm
her...@linknet.com.au wrote:
Hello everyone,
I'd like opinions of whether oil paintings need to be varnished.
I have gloss varnished little ones, wax varnished bumpy ones and
Shadonrbep
back and forth once covering each path leave flat until dry gives a coat to
protect from weather elements, sun etc and dust and dirt Gives a little shine
also and certainly brightens the colors used. Brings to life. Wait untipaints
dry like thick paint pasto would take several months. Test.
~Artist~
How does it work? Anyone do that yet?
Ken Beyer
I tried it as an experiment to see what it would do if used as a fixative instead of 'proper' fixative for chalk / pastel, it had a tendency to make the chalk / pastel go 'bitty' which made it difficult to work over.
I would imagine that work 'preserved' like this and framed behind glass wouldn't really encounter any problems.
Ken Beyer
UK based Artist Painter
http://www.telinco.co.uk/beyer/splash.htm