Is it best to protect your painting with a varnish?

[DianeKing]

I'm just wondering about using some sort of finishing varnish on my paintings and not sure at all what to look for. I use acrylics and oil.

Any recommendations? Never used anything before :confused:

[Scorch]

Hmmm... As soon as your acrylics are dry, you certainly coud varnish them with anythng you wanted to, depending on the material you're painting on. On anything solid, like wood or similar, you could use water-based varnish, but I'm not sure what's recommended for paper or canvas.

But I'm not sure you should do that over oils, 'cos they don't really dry, do they? Or maybe there's some special stuff for oils...

Do you expect your painting to get rough handling, or any handling at all?

[indri]

I've never heard of anyone wanting to varnish their oil paintings before. I was under the impression they were pretty much ok from day to day hanging and looking at. It would be useful to know what you do with you paintings? Are they on something that will be handled a lot? On my quilling (paper) I use a spray acrylic varnish to protect them from fading and dust... I have also used clear nail varnish on some of my small quilled items to protect them.

[PeggyCrafts]

When I used to do acrylic paintings I varnished them with a spray on varnish made by Winsor & Newton, I found it was really good as it gave them protection from dust etc which does collect when they're on the wall. Also it gives them a very light sheen which sort of catches the light and can make your colours stand out more. I can't remember what it was called exactly, but it was in an aerosol about the size of spray paint, cost about £5, and had a black top and a green label :) hope this helps

PS I wouldn't spray your oils though, as apparently they take one whole year (!!!) to fully dry and they may never dry if you varnish them! You'd have a permanently sticky painting!! :D

[liz15a]

Hi

You shouldnt varnish your oil paintings for at least 6 months to ensure they dry fully (obviously you cant tell exactly when this is as they are touch dry in a week or so), but then its fine to varnish them - it brings out the colours, protects from dust etc so as long as you buy a varnish suitable for oils then theres no problems - theres plenty of them out there in good art shops. Might be worth consulting a couple of oil painting books for professional advice though as theres a complete mishmash of responses in this thread!!!!

[DianeKing]

There certainly is a mixture of responses here! Which is why I was wondering myself and posted the thread! My paintings are handled in so far as packing and unpacking them for fairs - but definitely not roughly handled!

Yes, what you're saying about waiting for the oils to properly dry before varnishing I've heard before (and then I thought - 'but I've never varnished'!!...hence the ?)

I'll do some more research, and will certainly have a look for the windsor and newton product -thankyou:)

[Scorch]

Why not ask in a "proper" art shop, if there's one near you? They should know more than we do, I guess! :)

[DianeKing]

Why not ask in a "proper" art shop, if there's one near you? They should know more than we do, I guess! :)

Cos I wanted to know what other painters used - I thought other painters on the forum would be able to let me know their thoughts on what they do ...and recommend..cos I don't know

Any painters out there - all thoughts on this welcome - and thanks for the thoughts so far :D

[LillyTea]

Hiya

If you are using acrylic and oils I would say unless you want your paintings to have a totally matt/gloss finish without the look of brush strokes etc, not to go anywhere near varnish. - of course that depends also on how thickly you are placing your paint on your canvas/board/paper etc.

Both acrylic and oil paints are exceptionally durable - think of the great masters and how long their works last for! - So there is no need to varnish in terms of durability for the buyer but it is more like your personal preference as to how you want your images to look.

Lilly