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Varnishing oil paintings
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Message
Posted
About two weeks ago I painted a couple of small portraits (11" x 9") with mainly W & N artists oils, plus a small amount of W & N Artisan alkyd paints.
Looking at the W & N website, the notes for oil paint varnish advises users to let the painting dry for 6 months before varnishing it.
The oil paint on the two paintings I did was applied in thin layers, there's no impasto.
What happens to the paint if I apply the varnish now instead of waiting 6 months?
Posted
I used to varnish my oils at about 3 months keora and they always left a slightly sticky feel to them. As I am now going back to oils I am going to leave them at least 6 months. The thing with oils is that although they are touch dry within a few days they have to dry thoroughly throughout and this is done by oxidisation. If you put varnish on top, that process is arrested and so the painting cannot dry properly.
Posted
Forgot to mention that you can add a "retouching" varnish after your painting is touch-dry. This will temporarily protect your painting especially if you wish to exhibit it meantime. I don't know if you have to remove this varnish before you apply the proper varnish later or if you can varnish over the top of it.
Posted
Retouching varnish never dries fully, and will gradually evaporate - so you don't need to remove it - though I also wouldn't apply the stuff in the first place, frankly. Having a surface on a painting which never really dries has never struck me as a good idea - particularly after someone I knew wrapped his paintings in newspaper for an exhibition having applied retouching varnish, and found the paper had stuck firmly to it.
Varnishing an oil painting before 6 months or so have elapsed, thin layers or not, is likely to lead to destruction of the paint film by cracking because of the differential rates of drying - even if oil paint looks and feels dry, that doesn't mean it is beneath its skin.
Posted
Yup. I normally allow at least 8 months to a year. The fact that I don't like retouching varnish is no reason not to use it if you want to - but do be careful with it. Some people apply it to a painting in order to wake up a passage and apply more paint on top: this is NOT a good idea. As a temporary varnish, well - it works. I don't really know of any alternative - other than leaving the painting as it leaves your easel - if you need to display pictures in an exhibition almost immediately after painting them. But don't touch the surface or let any fabric, lint or dust get to it.
Posted
6 month recomendation is just the safety net the manufactor sticks on the label so they don't get sued.
If you paint with extremely thick paint than yea, 6 month at least, it must be fully dried, not only on the surface.
But if you paint like a normal person you can varnish oil paintings after a week, I personally wait about a month
and I have paintings that are several years old by now that got vanished after about 2 weeks that are in mint.
Posted
I'm afraid I don't agree with that, no matter how good a condition MindGem's paintings might be in. The danger of cracking - which can occur at any time - is reduced if you're painting on a rigid panel rather than a stretched canvas, but recommending varnishing an oil painting after a few weeks is not good advice. Yes, if the paint is very thin you might get away with it - and then again, you might not.
Even leaving aside the possibility of cracking, there's another issue with varnishing too soon, and that's what happens when someone needs to clean the painting and remove the old varnish: if the paint beneath it wasn't properly cured, the possibility is - even the likelihood is - that the varnish will have bonded with the paint and will lift it when removed.
Posted
posted by keora:
What happens to the paint if I apply the varnish now instead of waiting
6 months?
That paint surface needs by thoroughly dry - not dry to your, or any
man's eye. One of final-varnish's principal goal's, in fact, to protect
the paint surface; in other words, it'll form a respective transparent-
layer atop the work, which'll take all the abuse.
If and when that's occurred, that varnish can be removed and re-
placed. - That why the six-month rule; if not heeded, that varnish and
the art might, in fact, become one: No cleaning' just the varnish, or al-
together, for that matter, then.
And instead of "retouch varnish," which introduces damar resin
(questionably lightfast) into the mix, why not simply oil-it-out: If an
area's sunken-in, simply take some lean medium and rub it atop -
Those areas can just rearrise (and to be frank, lack of sufficient oil the
real issue anyway) - Perhaps ya oughtta've just added more medium
into the mix anyway; in oilin'-out, you're simply just puttin' that me-
diim in anyway. (after or durin' - Difference really?!!)
It's also, of course, designed to preserve the vivid darks and chroma,
asides from the obvious protection-motive.
jr
Posted
Here in South Africa artists tend to put their oil paintings on the market the moment the paint is dry enough so the picture can be moved and handled. And thus, oil paintings here are seldom varnished at all. But the other day at an open air art market I saw some that were varnished. The artist told me he varnishes them the moment they are dry to the touch. Which means that in all probability, his paintings will not be restorable in the future. Perhaps it doesn't matter so much for popular art that is almost certainly going to end up in the landfill anyway. The varnish does give it a sparkle it might other otherwise lack.
In my case, none of my work is selling anyway, so perhaps I should consider varnishing some of the older pieces, that are very dry by now. :-)