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Devilbiss
Joined: 06 Jul 2007
Posts: 2522
Location: Sydney
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 Posted: Fri Jan 22, 2010 8:01 pm Post subject: Re: Re - Everthing you wanted to know about Oil Painting . |
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| Allison- wrote: | ok stupid question--- I need to whiten the edges of my stretched canvas...just white gesso? over the smudge marks? .....will it cover on the first go or will i need 2 or 3 layers?
p.s i just tried my first go at damar varnish the other night and i can safely say i hate the bloody stuff! |
I would buy some Griffin Alkyd fast drying titanium white for the edges.
Gesso remains porous and therefore harder to clean.
I find the paraloid varnish nice to use. It has a good gloss, dries fast and stays flexible. |
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Katy
Joined: 21 Feb 2010
Posts: 13
Location: Queensland
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| Posted: Sun Feb 21, 2010 11:27 am Post subject: Re - Everthing you wanted to know about Oil Painting . |
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I know you guys have spoken about this thro the thread but I was wondering on some opinions...
I finished an oil painting about 3 months ago but I don't know if I need to varnish it or not.
I've heard some say 'yes', others say 'no' 'cause it is an oil painting.
So ummm.... which is it?  |
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The Pook
Joined: 01 Feb 2007
Posts: 2823
Location: Tasmania
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| Posted: Sun Feb 21, 2010 12:52 pm Post subject: Re - Everthing you wanted to know about Oil Painting . |
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The reason for varnishing is to protect the paint from the atmosphere over time. The varnish is a sacrificial layer that absorbs all the dust, chemicals, UV, etc that would normally be interacting with the oil in the paint. Over decades it will darken, crack or cloud, etc and when old paintings are restored it is completely removed along with all the grime it has accumulated, leaving the paint fresh underneath.
So in my opinion it is always better to varnish.
If as is often the case you are rushing to get a painting finished for an exhibition or sale, you can use Touch Up Varnish as a temporary cover, but you should varnish it properly after about six months drying time. Touch Up Varnish can be applied almost immediately, when the paint is touch dry, as it still allows some breathing. But it doesn't protect the painting like a final varnish will. A final varnish shouldn't be done until the paint is well on the way to drying (which in an absolute sense takes years of course, but six months is usually adequate. |
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Katy
Joined: 21 Feb 2010
Posts: 13
Location: Queensland
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| Posted: Sun Feb 21, 2010 1:37 pm Post subject: Re - Everthing you wanted to know about Oil Painting . |
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ah...sweet
'preciate that Pook  |
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belle2
Joined: 21 Jan 2010
Posts: 176
Location: Newcastle
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| Posted: Wed Mar 03, 2010 3:32 pm Post subject: Re - Everthing you wanted to know about Oil Painting . |
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You answered my query as well, Greg.
At TAFE they say not to varnish for a year.
Does touch up varnish need to be removed? |
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The Pook
Joined: 01 Feb 2007
Posts: 2823
Location: Tasmania
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| Posted: Wed Mar 03, 2010 3:43 pm Post subject: Re: Re - Everthing you wanted to know about Oil Painting . |
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| belle2 wrote: | You answered my query as well, Greg.
At TAFE they say not to varnish for a year.
Does touch up varnish need to be removed? |
No. I keep calling it touch up varnish, but of course it is really called Retouch. |
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Amandav
Joined: 17 Sep 2005
Posts: 1835
Location: Hervey Bay
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| Posted: Wed Mar 03, 2010 6:51 pm Post subject: Re - Everthing you wanted to know about Oil Painting . |
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Absolutely varnish your paintings whether they are oil or acrylic. Varnish is, as The Pook says, a protective layer that protects the underneath painting.
Retouch varnish can be applied as soon as a painting is fully touch dry.
I recently had an incident where a painting of mine went off to an art prize only to return home with paint that had been picked up from someone else's wet painting along the way. It was a much easier - and much less nerve racking - process to clean the paint off (with artist's white spirits) the varnished suyrface than off the actual painting itself.
I also find the paintings that stay in my studio for a while gather dust and dirt and need a clean before they go out in the world. Varnish helps with that.
It also helps a bit to even out the surface. |
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Tango
Joined: 06 Mar 2006
Posts: 1049
Location: Melbourne
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| Posted: Wed Mar 03, 2010 7:03 pm Post subject: Re: Re - Everthing you wanted to know about Oil Painting . |
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| belle2 wrote: |
At TAFE they say not to varnish for a year. |
If you are using Griffin alkyd oils you only have to wait 3 months before varnishing
Last edited by Tango on Sat Mar 06, 2010 2:07 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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art8dave
Joined: 01 May 2006
Posts: 1260
Location: Sydney
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| Posted: Sat Mar 06, 2010 12:28 pm Post subject: Re: Re - Everthing you wanted to know about Oil Painting . |
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| Amandav wrote: | Absolutely varnish your paintings whether they are oil or acrylic. Varnish is, as The Pook says, a protective layer that protects the underneath painting.
Retouch varnish can be applied as soon as a painting is fully touch dry.
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Apparently the Impressionists didn't varnish their paintings. Looking at the Monet's at the NSW Art Gallery last year they looked very dry, but they all had glass to protect the paint surface.
A quality Retouch varnish certainly helps to even out the finish of an oil painting |
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Amandav
Joined: 17 Sep 2005
Posts: 1835
Location: Hervey Bay
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| Posted: Sat Mar 06, 2010 12:50 pm Post subject: Re: Re - Everthing you wanted to know about Oil Painting . |
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| art8dave wrote: |
Apparently the Impressionists didn't varnish their paintings. Looking at the Monet's at the NSW Art Gallery last year they looked very dry, but they all had glass to protect the paint surface.
A quality Retouch varnish certainly helps to even out the finish of an oil painting |
Yes they are behind glass and would have had extensive care and maintenance over the past 100 years or so by museum conservators....and they still looked dry. Imagine how they would have looked if they'd just been sitting in a studio somewhere |
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The Pook
Joined: 01 Feb 2007
Posts: 2823
Location: Tasmania
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| Posted: Sat Mar 06, 2010 1:17 pm Post subject: Re: Re - Everthing you wanted to know about Oil Painting . |
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| Amandav wrote: | | art8dave wrote: |
Apparently the Impressionists didn't varnish their paintings. Looking at the Monet's at the NSW Art Gallery last year they looked very dry, but they all had glass to protect the paint surface.
A quality Retouch varnish certainly helps to even out the finish of an oil painting |
Yes they are behind glass and would have had extensive care and maintenance over the past 100 years or so by museum conservators....and they still looked dry. Imagine how they would have looked if they'd just been sitting in a studio somewhere |
The Impressionists also used all sorts of crap paint I believe. Many of their paintings are in worse condition than paintings several hundred years older. |
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Amandav
Joined: 17 Sep 2005
Posts: 1835
Location: Hervey Bay
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| Posted: Sat Mar 06, 2010 2:12 pm Post subject: Re: Re - Everthing you wanted to know about Oil Painting . |
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| The Pook wrote: |
The Impressionists also used all sorts of crap paint I believe. Many of their paintings are in worse condition than paintings several hundred years older. |
Their time actually conicided with pre prepared oil paint in tubes being developed and used for the first time. I imagine this has had an impact on the overall look and integrity fo the pigment (who knows what binders and fillers wrere used in the earliest days).
And of course moving away from traditional tonal underpainting with layers of piugmented glazes to paint direct from the tube had an impact on the richness of the look of the finished works.
But then so many of them still look stunning in the flesh. And some of the beautiful rich paintings from earlier centuries are horribly disfigured by cracking. |
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muxingallery
Guest
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| Posted: Thu Aug 05, 2010 12:54 am Post subject: Re - Everthing you wanted to know about Oil Painting . |
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I have oil painting of people, and I want to show you the images, please give me some suggestions, how should I do?
ths a lot! |
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gggraph
Joined: 25 Jan 2007
Posts: 1793
Location: In front of the Computer.
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| Posted: Thu Aug 05, 2010 6:31 am Post subject: Re: Re - Everthing you wanted to know about Oil Painting . |
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| muxingallery wrote: | I have oil painting of people, and I want to show you the images, please give me some suggestions, how should I do?
ths a lot! |
I've had a look at your website.
Please note that posts promoting mass-produced reproductions of paintings will be treated as spam and deleted.
If you want to talk about art you, personally, have painted... welcome.
If you only want to drive traffic to your website, this is not the place. Most members of this Forum are creative artists, and regard the copying of other people's work for profit as offensive.
Grant |
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