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best varnishes
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Message
Posted
I use Galleria Winsor and Newton. Good light flat brush inch if you have it ,nothing precious ,though I was well in liquid soap.
One coat ,let it dry .. really dry, then another coat ,keeping a good eye that you have it all covered. This has always worked for me.
Actually I have always been a bit apprehensive of spray varnish. I'm sure you will get it right.
Posted
For acrylics, I use Satin or Matt Galleria. Like Sylvia, I do a thin coat, let it dry, then do another thin coat. Also sometimes, satin varnish under the matt. Not keen on the gloss varnish.
I use a soft decorating brush to apply it (one that guarantees no bristle loss)
Edited
by Helen Martell
Posted
Not keen on spray varnishes - of those I've used on acrylics, there's Chromacolour varnish, available on their website, any number of Daler Rowney acrylic varnishes, Winsor and Newton are good. Are you concered about excess gloss, perhaps? There are satin and matte varnishes, but the advice I've seen is to apply a gloss varnish, and then either a satin or matte. I quite like gloss, up to a point, but if you don't like too much gloss, just apply it thinly, and maybe work the brush through it a bit.
Acrylic varnishes are hard to remove once they get dirty - though a very careful touch of varnish remover or turpentine will do it. But the best way I've found to clean soiled acrylic varnish is - frankly - spit; or if you can't face that, a touch of lukewarm water and maybe even a touch of soap. Dry it quickly, then give it a buff with a soft cloth.
NB - NOT to be tried with oils.
I've said I quite like gloss varnishes - they do pick up the colour, i.e. enhance it. Really thickly applied acrylic paint, eg with my lovely Cryla, doesn't need gloss varnish because - you can clean it with lukewarm water (or the dreaded spit) - but varnish wouldn't hurt, and would still bring out the subtler colours. Quite a lot of painters don't varnish acrylics at all - I don't always varnish mine, but remember that acrylic paint presents a rather softer and more absorbent surface then oil, and so - especially in a smoky house - it can absorb dirt, which you'll observe as yellowing.
Posted
Oh how to apply it - a broad, soft-ish brush, eg a large flat spelter brush made of hog bristle, is as good as anything else. Too narrow a brush will leave tram-lines in the varnish which you'll notice as soon as you hang the painting; so whatever else you do, ensure you've covered the whole picture. Just because I don't like spray varnish doesn't mean it mightn't work for you - you might be less heavy-handed and clumsy than I am (most people are...): but do ensure you've got a fine spray, and that you cover the whole image, without varnishy blots and dribbles. And don't inhale the droplets - most acrylic varnishes are quite safe, but even so you don't want plastic or resin coating your airways.
Posted
I used to coat my (acrylic) paintings with just matt medium (Galleria), but switched to varnish to protect it (and my reputation) if the painting was being purchased by a stranger!
Robert… why would you need to remove a varnish?
And if it is an acrylic varnish over acrylic paint,… could you paint over it?
I had some paintings in my local pub (until recently… sadly the pub has closed), and noticed they’ve had beer stains down them along with a lot of dust. I dusted them with a microfibre cloth and then a ‘just’ damp cloth to remove the ‘beer’. Some I’ve had to put a fresh coat of varnish on.
Posted
Why remove - probably you wouldn't, with acrylic. With oil you often do, because stains (nicotine, principally) sink into the varnish, become part of it, and can't be washed out; so you need to remove the varnish and re-varnish: given so many oils were varnished with Dammar, which is very hard indeed to remove - i.e. only really powerful Turps will do it - it's not surprising that we have so many filthy oil paintings lurking about, that people often take for the 'old master' look - when the reality is just that they're incredibly mucky.
Yes, you could paint over an acrylic varnish - and indeed, I have. I'd rather not, though - your experience with your pub paintings proves that you can indeed wash 'em off and re-varnish - this would be a longer and more complicated process with oil paint (and is one among many reasons why watercolours and gouache need to be protected by glass if in a dirty environment: I cleaned off a few glazed watercolours for someone a few years ago - sheesh, the filth! Imagine that brown/yellow film sitting on a coat of varnish, or unvarnished acrylic - it'll come off glass, with a bit of effort; acrylic varnish can be cleaned as though it were glass; acrylic paint can be given a gentle scrub with lukewarm water and even a bit of soap: a dammar or mastic varnish on the other hand doesn't take to water at all well, and then you're into all the mysterious mixtures the experts use on Antiques Roadshow (though - in all truth - that's usually Turps).
Posted
My experience with stains on glass was when I worked in a day centre. One day one of the ladies who used the centre notice me washing my glasses under the tap and asked if if wash her specs as well , bit of washing up liquid and a gentle rub with finger and thumb . Looked down to see if they were clean and to my horror the tint on her specks had come off , I took her specs back and was trying to explain that there had been a problem. She jump up grabbed the spec and started shouting look look , I can see out of the bloody thing’s. The tint was six years of smoking sixty fags a day , from baddy to goody in a moment, I think I washed another ten pairs that day.
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