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Is it neccessary to varnish an oil painting?
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Message
Posted
I never really feel the need to varnish my canvases, yes, I know it's a protection, but against what? the ravages of time I suppose. I've tried the matt and gloss, the gloss looks awful, all shiny and reflective, well it would, the matt leaves a sort of dull film over the canvas. I have used the decent brands so I wasn't penny-pinching. I just don't bother any more, it's a job less. The advice that I have read is not to varnish until after six month's, that's fine, but what if you sell the work before then, do you enclose a bottle of the sticky stuff and a brush? I have also tried the spray-on varnish, it's less messy but the results are the same.
I would be very interested to hear the thought's and recommendations of other artist's.
Edited
by alanbickley
Posted
Putting the protection aspects aside, which we all know about, I always hesitate to varnish. Although it brings out the darks etc, the overall effect , to me, is not as attractive. I much prefer the gentler unvarnished result. Some highly varnished paintings you see in galleries just look cheap and nasty to me, spoiled( often at the gallery ) by the added varnish. However, I often use re touching varnish - yes, I know it's only temporary - but it does freshen up the painting.
Posted
If I have the painting long enough - ie 6 to 12 months - I'll consider varnishing it; if the paint is looking dull in patches, for example. But in general I much prefer to "oil out": ie to apply a thin coat of oil painting medium, which in my case is always Winsor and Newton's. When I say "thin", by the way, I MEAN thin: apply with a hog hair brush or lint-free cloth, work the oil medium into the paint (gently) and don't leave the painting wet or sticky. This revives the colours and sheen, and is often all you need to do. You can varnish afterwards if you feel you need to, and if you do I'd go for the Winsor and Newton Artists' Gloss Varnish: the amount of gloss can be regulated by how much of it you apply - I don't want the surface dazzling the viewer every time light hits it.... So just enough to form a protective, and removable, film.
I haven't used Retouching Varnish in years - again, I'd much rather use a little oil painting medium if part of the painting has died on me.
(I'm not keen on varnishing acrylic paintings either, but the paint surface is too easily damaged - by dirt, especially - and while it can be washed I prefer to apply an acrylic varnish - I use Chromacolour's varnish at the moment. And acrylic paint can dry alarmingly matte - I think it needs a varnish.)
Remember that one well-known oil painter - John McCombs - frames his oils under glass, thus obviating the need for any varnish. I don't imagine many would want to do this, but it's another option.
Posted
Don't know if this might help - it's the section on varnishing from my e-book Oil Paint Basics - which is available in all its glory on the Amazon Kindle Store, by the way:
<title></title>"Varnishing:Varnish is not always essential; it's up to you whether you varnish or not; in any event, don't varnish earlier than 8 months or so; if the paint is thick, wait longer – at least 1 year. The purpose of varnish is to protect the surface of the painting from dirt, and atmospheric conditions. The varnish should be removable – because varnish itself discolours and deteriorates over time – and while there's quite a wide choice, including some very old formulations,like Mastic and Dammar or Copal Varnish, I'd be inclined to avoid them and go for a ketone resin: the varnish I use is Winsor and Newton's Artists' Gloss Varnish. The reason by the way that I'm not keen on using Dammar varnish as a part of my painting medium, which some do, is precisely because I prefer a removable varnish. Dammar is also removable – if it's used in the medium, and the varnish is later removed (with white spirit or other solvents) at a later date,what's to stop some of my paint being removed with it? So far as I can tell, nothing..... On the whole, I usually varnish my paintings. Not everyone does; some, the Yorkshire painter JohnMcCombs, for instance, frame their oils under glass. This is quite unusual but provided the glass isn't sitting right on top of the paint, but is separated by a mount or at least a rebate of some kind,it's one solution to the problem."
Posted
I tried to find your e-book on the internet. There's a couple of links to a person with the same name but there's something suspicious about them. I did a search for Robert Jones oil painting book and got this:
https://eu.simple-file.org/
It advises users to download, which I did. Windows then gave me the message that the file was harmful and stopped the file from being opened. But the file still downloaded. Initially I was unable to delete it, even though I am the system administrator. I evenually managed to delete it using another method.
The other link was this, which doesn't make sense when you read it.
http://maison-synapse.com/pdff/oil-painting-ebook.pdf
There's more than one painter with the name Robert Jones on the internet and I wonder if the links actually do relate to your ebook.
Edited
by keora
Posted
You don't need a Kindle - I don't have one either, and don't want one! There's a kindle app on Amazon which is more than adequate on my PC and on your laptop. One of these days I shall get round to having a printed edition of the book: it's only laziness which has stopped me, because they can be printed to order once you sign up to the service. Don't know about the price, though!
Posted
I don't consider my paintings finished until they are varnished. The reason I think this way is that parts of the image will often be more glossy than other parts (more medium or more oil). I use a gloss varnish to even up the look. Once it was varnished, I would then take a photo. I have recently learned that it's best to take the photo before you varnish, to avoid the glare from the shine. Regardless, I use a spray varnish which makes the job of varnishing easy. Two coats, five minutes apart, and I'm done. I usually spray on the balcony, on a windless day. The paintings need to stay outside for a few hours to get rid of the smell of the varnish (even though it's dry in a few minutes). So, in a few hours the paintings come in. The spray varnish I use is by Krylon and is called Kamar Varnish. It allows reworking, which is a nice touch when I see something I need to adjust a few weeks later. I also varnish if I need to, at the " touch dry" stage, at 3 to 5 days after finishing the oil painting. (Parts of my paintings, especially the light colours will be thickly painted.) I've had no complaints from customers and because it's a re-touch varnish, I believe the painting can easily dry under this varnish. Another artist who also does this will offer his customers a six month re-varnish. He'll go visit and revarnish. It's a nice customer service idea. And he likes doing it. I've heard from the Gamblin representative that their varnish can easily be removed with solvent, so it's a possibility. But considering that I can varnish 10 paintings at once in under 5 minutes, I doubt I'll change my methods!
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