Varnishing Day In The Studio
I paint a lot and I usually build up anywhere from 5-10 paintings before varnishing. I cover a table with plastic, maybe two tables and than I start varnishing everything I have ready at that time. I use Liquitex Professional Medium and Varnish. I bought a quart bottle of it and I’ve been using it for several years.
The product I use can be used as a medium or a varnish. What’s the difference you may be thinking. Let’s talk about that.
Medium. Acrylic paint dries very quickly and you can add small amounts of a medium to your brush before picking up paint to keep it open or wet longer. This allows you to move the paint around and to blend more like oil paint. I work fast so I seldom use it as a medium, but sometimes when working on a large project I do.
Varnish. When you’re finished with your painting varnishing it might be your next step. I say might be because there is no hard and fast rule that says “you must varnish your acrylic painting,” but once you do you probably will always varnish after that.
Varnishing seems to give your painting another layer of depth. I’m not exactly sure how that happens, but once I varnish a painting I always like it more. It’s like the icing on the cake. I use a medium gloss varnish and it gives it a sheen that I love.
Warning. Because it gives it a sheen, you might want to photograph your painting before and after you varnish. Sometimes a varnished painting is a little more difficult to photograph because it can create a bit of a glare.
I created this very short video on my most recent varnishing day. If you like it, please give it a thumbs up, share and subscribe. It helps me to reach more and more beginning artists like yourself who just may need this important information. It’s important because I went years not knowing about varnishing my artwork. I just didn’t know any better. I wouldn’t let one go out the door now without having given a minimum of two coats of varnish, but I usually go for three.
Click HERE to shop for varnish.
I’m not sure if you’ve seen it yet, but I’ve created a Resources page on my website where I post items I’ve created such as my Painter Nation apron, and other items and art supplies I love. Some I am an affiliate for where I make a small commission if you make a purchase but it does not affect the price you pay. There are some that I love the product so much I promote it even without receiving a commission. I try to curate only quality products that I can personally vouch for.
Thanks so much for being here today. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate your continued support of my art and my art business.
My goal is to teach 1000 purpose driven artists to learn to paint using fundamentals, elements of art and tutorials so that they can move their art journey further faster. Everything I create in art education is created with that goal in mind.
Have a great day and let’s paint together soon.
Sharon