boss battle: varnishing

Sweating bullets every time I need to Varnish a painting (see what I did there?)
Varnishing doesnt have to be scary or stress inducing! here are some tips on varnishing for oil paintings

Rule Number one: you must wait 6 months to a year before varnishing.
two things will happen if you varnish too early. One, you'll see unsightly bubbles appear in the varnish. this happends because the paint molecules are still moving as they dry and settle; releasing oxygen. This oxygen cannot escape the varnish and gets stuck inside the base layer.
The second occurence is the Varnish will fuse with the fresh paint, becoming permanent. You dont want this to happen, varnish is meant to be removable.

rule 2: always clean your painting properly prior to Varnishing. its safest to wait a full 24 hours for all the water to evaporate completely before you Varnish

rule 3: Liquin is not a Varnish! the same goes for "oiling out". Using mediums to achieve color vibrancy may look nice in the moment, but its adding a permmanent layer of yellow to the painting.

rule 4: Never pour the Varnish directly on the painting. always use a brush and apply evenly.
Theres a big trend of varnishing videos where the artist pours the bottle onto the painting and brushes it out. This is an art Conservars worst nigthmare because it means the varnish will be super concentrated in the spot it was initially poured. This means there will be more yellowing in that spot and it will be significantly more difficult to remove the varnish without destroying the upper layers of the painting.

rule 5; always make sure your Varnish is not expired! Varnishes have a very short shelf life!

hope that helps!
good luck out there!

Видео boss battle: varnishing канала Kelly Eden