oil painting protection

Bob · Flight Lieutenant Joined: May 22, 2006 Posts: 90

Hey Guys, can some of the artists on this site tell me what they apply to their oil paintings until the are fully cured for a final varnish.(in some cases a year later) thanks, Bob

chasmq · Posted: Tue Feb 09, 2010 9:41 am Post subject:

I do not think there are hard rules regarding days taken for oil paint to dry. As I am sure you know already, oil paint dries by oxidisation rather then evaporation and therefore the paint needs access to air. While I may well be wrong, my opinion is that paint applied thinly requires far less time then paint applied thickly, for example by palette knife. The 6 month rule for varnish will be dictated by worst case example.

I have applied retouching (spray) varnish 10 days after finishing an oil painting although by that stage, most of the canvas will already be several months old as I paint slowly. I recently 'restored' one such painting after 10 years by washing with soapy water to remove dust and when dry and clean applying a further layer of varnish. It now looks better then ever and not necessarily 'new'. A new contempary frame finished the job off very nicely.

Customers are generally quite impatient once their work is complete and retouching varnish is IMHO a good way of releasing the work without any risk of damage. Happy to concede if others have a differing tale to tell.
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bsquared · Posted: Tue Feb 09, 2010 9:15 pm Post subject:

I agree with Charles in that I'll use retouching varnish if it has to go to the client quickly. Seems to work and protect the under painting and still brings out eh colors really well. If I can keep my paintings I'll wait the 6 months and then use the final Damar varnish.

B
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