Varnishing Oil and Mixed medium with different sheens

I have mixed both gloss and matt varnish together and used the mix to give a something in between effect. It worked o k . I used Winsor and Newton. You could mix a small amount and try on a small area of your painting, or on another painting altogether. It worked for me .

Um..... well, first off, it isn't always essential to varnish your painting (and while I can get very boring on this subject, I will always add: don't varnish before the picture's at least 6 months old: in this case perhaps that's particularly relevant, because while your painting may be high gloss and matte now, it might settle down a bit in a few months' time); but the truly matte areas are likely to get duller over time if you do nothing. Had you considered oiling out instead? A very, very little oil/oil painting medium on the matte areas, wiped away to the thinnest of films, and actually much the same over the high gloss which shouldn't need much of it anyway. It might be relevant to ask how you achieved the high gloss: with Linseed oil alone? Stand or sun-thickened Linseed? Other oil? I have a sketch on which I used thickened Linseed oil for a glazed area, the rest painted with a little medium, if any: it would be possible to varnish the less glossy areas of that very thinly with matte varnish, and leave the glazed area to speak for itself, because it is quite glossy, and the thickened oil film renders varnish less important (or even quite unimportant). If I can find it, I'll add it to this reply so you can get an idea - just don't judge the painting, because it was only an experiment! (The glazed area is the cliff on the right.) Dammar varnish is OK - one of the older varnishes, but it has the benefit of being removable; you could mix up two batches - one straight varnish, the other reduced with a little Turpentine. It should dry flat and perfectly transparently. Ketone varnish, which I normally use - sold as Winsor and Newton Gloss Varnish, as well as in other brands and formulations - is a high gloss; I don't see any technical reason why it shouldn't be combined with a matte varnish, and it probably wouldn't matter if there were some overlap. There are many other varnishes - take a look at the Michael Harding and the Roberson websites, and perhaps ask for advice from the old established firms - T N Lawrence, Heaton Cooper, for instance; it's often worthwhile, if you can find a dyed-in-the-wool expert on artists' materials, and they're more likely to be in the old and out of the way firms than in the big conglomerates: or more accessible, at least. But in short, your first idea looks feasible to me - to use two varnishes, or a mineral spirits diluted dammar for the matte parts; Or varnish the whole thing, and when it's dry go over the parts you want to be matte with matte varnish - let it stand in a warm room for a while, to help it blend in.