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Varnish on acrylic painting
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Message
Posted
Well, really - no, it isn't. Why would that be? Well, let's try examining that a bit.
For varnishing: a varnish protects a painting, and can enhance the colours: especially the more thinly applied ones, minus glaze medium or other mediums.
Against varnishing: You can clean acrylic paintings, which you certainly can't with oil, with a bit of water, even with a bit of soap and water. While a UV varnish will help protect the colour, acrylic colour is, on the whole, far less vulnerable to fading than oil or watercolour.
Acrylics can be protected under glass - like watercolour (or, indeed, oil). It can also withstand a great deal of battery by the elements, if properly applied (and that's true of all media - the 'properly applied' bit).
I'm thinking at the moment: do I need to varnish my latest, painted with knives? (Does it even deserve it - banish that thought!) Would I run the risk of glossing-up the colour, as it were, while at the same time causing it to lose some of its texture? I'm not sure; but I have a couple of acrylics painted in, respectively, 1984 and 1991, neither of which is varnished. Of course, the eye deceives - especially eyes as old as mine and older; but I really can't see any sign of deterioration at all. I also have one painted in 1991 which is varnished with a wax varnish - which I would not do with an acrylic today: and it looks fine too.
It may be that acrylics will fall to bits in 100 years' time, but I've got varnished and unvarnished paintings from 40 years ago which have fared extraordinarily well with no hint of varnish, together with some which were varnished. So - I think the answer is that we'll do what seems to help at the time, but that in terms of longevity, it probably doesn't matter a bit.
Posted
Oh, PS - there is absolutely NO available evidence that acrylics will fall to bits after 100 years. It's true that the very long-term implications are those we cannot know, because time has a gift for mocking science. But I've never seen any evidence at all that acrylic paint will deteriorate over the years - I thought I'd better make that clear! While I hate to see acrylic described as 'plastic paint', because it really isn't - longer explanation available if required - plastics can survive for centuries: to the world's cost, but that's another matter altogether.
Posted
Oh, PS - there is absolutely NO available evidence that acrylics will fall to bits after 100 years. It's true that the very long-term implications are those we cannot know, because time has a gift for mocking science. But I've never seen any evidence at all that acrylic paint will deteriorate over the years - I thought I'd better make that clear! While I hate to see acrylic described as 'plastic paint', because it really isn't - longer explanation available if required - plastics can survive for centuries: to the world's cost, but that's another matter altogether.I'd be interested in the longer explanation please Robert.
Posted
Acrylics with a mount and framed under glass do not need to be varnished. Acrylics on canvas or board that are not under glass do need to be varnished especially if you are selling work. Even when cured, over time they absorb tiny particles of pollution from the atmosphere. An isolation coat protects the acrylic paint. Over that put a removable varnish. Over time it can be removed without affecting the painting and a new coat applied. Also if they had decorators paint spilt on them or were in an exhibition and got tagged they could be cleaned without damaging the painting. There's lots of info about products on the Golden paints website. Some of the products contain UV filters.
Edited
by Tessa Spanton
Posted
I'd be interested to have a longer explanation please Robert. Oh, PS - there is absolutely NO available evidence that acrylics will fall to bits after 100 years. It's true that the very long-term implications are those we cannot know, because time has a gift for mocking science. But I've never seen any evidence at all that acrylic paint will deteriorate over the years - I thought I'd better make that clear! While I hate to see acrylic described as 'plastic paint', because it really isn't - longer explanation available if required - plastics can survive for centuries: to the world's cost, but that's another matter altogether.
Edited
by Tessa Spanton
Posted
Try a matt varnish over it instead? I used a satin varnish once which went all patchy, wasn’t happy. I painted matt over it and all fine.
I’ve used the satin since then, without patchiness, so I reckon I probably put it on too thickly on the first one. Have had different sheen finishes depending on the quality of canvas it’s going on.
Posted
What was the longer explanation required? Ask, and it shall be delivered unto thee - provided I know the answer..
Agree with the points made above by Heather Spanton. You don't need to varnish acrylics which are intended to be shown under glass: you CAN, but if you do, ensure (as you would need to anyway, that the glass doesn't touch the paint - use a mount.
The isolation coat idea may be a good one: not every paint-maker offers one, Golden does, and the cynical may say that's why they recommend it. But the painter Will Kemp recommends it too, and that's good enough for me. It's a coat that goes over the paint and provides an interim protection between the paint and the subsequent varnish. I haven't used it - on the flimsy grounds that I never have, that it wasn't available when I started out, and bah gum that's enough for me! I think it would be a good idea, though.
Acrylics represent quite a soft surface, even though they don't feel soft when dry; it's one in which dirt not only sits on the paint, but can penetrate it, permeate it, and thus be impossible to remove. So a varnish, for unglazed paintings, is wise. Some don't, but they run a risk.
Removing acrylic varnish - well that's where the isolation coat comes into its own, because as Helen has found out, it's not easy. I have never done it, knowing of the difficulty it would cause. If it were oil, the process would be straightforward, if somewhat labour intensive; damar varnish presents the strongest challenge on oil paint, and by the way that's a very good reason not to use damar on acrylics - it will yellow (in time), it will need to be removed because the yellowing in varnish can't be reversed, and it will need pure Turpentine to remove it, which can break down acrylic paint, remove it or turn it into sludge.
So, knowing this, you apply an acrylic varnish - quite honestly, that should last the lifetime of the painting. A good acrylic varnish, such as you can get from Golden, Liquitex, Daler-Rowney, Winsor and Newton, won't yellow, and is theoretically removable with products from those same companies. Then along comes Helen - and she can't. Nor is she alone. Acrylic varnish can be, forgive my language Auntie, a bugger to remove. Don't take Turps to it (and always put a label on your paintings to indicate they are acrylics: it's not always possible to tell - or easy to tell anyway - and an amateur restorer could find himself wiping the whole painting by using Turps or OMS. I'll have a good scout around the places I know about, and will try to recommend a good varnish-remover when I've done a bit of study.
BUT - while you can't really do this with oil varnish, except for superficial marks - eg, a spider might have relieved itself on the surface - it's often possible to clean an acrylic varnish with either plain water on a cotton bud, or - sorry about this - spit.
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A few further notes: some painters whose judgement I trust have recommended: not applying a matte varnish alone, but applying a gloss first, then the matte (obviously when the gloss has dried: I know the reasons why, but this'll become a huge screed if I carry on throwing words at it... Will tell you if you want to know. Same is true, they say, of satin varnish. Always varnish in a warm room - comfortably warm, human-warm. Sprays can sputter and spit, a brush dedicated just to varnish, Sylvia's practice, is more usual and will preferably be a wide flat. And finally for now, unless you want a really high gloss, apply the varnish sparingly; thinly. If you do want to enhance it to the maximum, then do so in layers - when you're confident the previous layer has dried. And do look out for streaks, because once they're there and "baked-in", they are murder to hide.