Should you varnish your painting?
I had originally intended to call this blog post ‘To Varnish or Not to Varnish’ however while doing a bit of research around the topic I discovered that I am not nearly as original as I thought and that at least four other people have written blogs under this heading. Oh well, hopefully, mine takes an easier tone.
I was inspired to write about this by an article on a ‘Mark Rothko’ painting that was recently damaged by a toddler in a Dutch Museum. The little scamp had playfully scratched it while their parent's backs were turned. Not great as the general policy of Dutch museums is to charge for damage! The article stressed that the un-varnished surface was particularly susceptible to marks and the weird and wonderful combination of paints used by the artist was particularly difficult to re-create.
Of course Rothko's technique is famously complicated and concerned with overwhelming the viewer and a great many other very long words, but by and large, they don't include varnish! Claude Monet, Willard Metcalf, Morris Louis and a number of other notable painters are also famous for not using it, generally expressing the view that they want the viewer to enjoy the ascetic beauty of the raw paint.
We can take this a step further when talking about Acrylic paintings, where there is huge debate about the use of varnish, The Smithsonian says: ‘There are concerns as to whether or not to varnish acrylic paintings and many artists insist that their acrylic paintings be unvarnished. Acrylic resin proprietary varnishes have similar solubilities to those of acrylic paint. This necessitates the use of solvents which might damage the paint layer for their removal. Acrylic paint is also soluble in the solvent used to remove traditional varnishes. Thus, varnish application to an acrylic painting requires serious consideration’.
So, why do we varnish a painting? Firstly to protect it. Whenever you watch Lucia Scalisi on The Repair Shop cleaning a painting, generally what she is doing is taking off the dirty and discoloured layers of varnish to reveal the original paint below. This is important because even in the cleanest of environments dust and dirt and light (UV) and fingers (little toddler scratchy nails), breath, cigarette smoke etc etc is/are landing on the surface of the painting. So if you can clean off a protective layer of varnish then the paint underneath should be safe. If however, you have to clean the paint itself then you are risking damage, particularly if using solvents! Secondly a varnish will bring out the colours, enhance the depth and vibrancy and also even out the surface sheen addressing areas of matt and gloss. I do not profess to be a paint expert, but many oil paintings will go extremely flat as they dry, particularly if the artist doesn't use a medium such as liquin. The addition of varnish brings them back to life and often back to how the artist originally saw it as they painted.
What's the alternative? To be honest I think the only real alternative is to frame the painting under glass, being careful to allow it to breathe. There are some extremely effective ‘Art’ glass or ‘Museum’ glass offerings available these days which dramatically reduce glare and reflection while massively improving the level of UV protection. As a compromise this is probably the best solution, but for me, it is not nearly as good as a varnish.
All of our own original paintings are varnished prior to sale and they are all framed without glass as we believe they were intended to be seen. A ‘Retouching’ or ‘Exhibition’ varnish which is a very light and thin varnish can be added (often sprayed on) within a few weeks of creation and this will give temporary protection to the painting for the first year or so. Oil paint, depending on how thickly it is used, can take up to a year to completely dry and this thin varnish allows that process to continue. Once a painting is a year or two old then a final much thicker varnish can be applied. This will then be good for at least ten to twelve years, when, just like servicing your car, we recommend you consider having it lightly cleaned and re-applied.
This is not really a blog about applying varnish and to be honest I have seen it done in a number of different ways on social media platforms! However if you want to varnish your own painting, it is not actually that difficult. Ensure the surface is clean, make sure you have the correct varnish for the medium, a good soft brush and then spread it evenly across the surface. Take the trouble to remove any hairs or bits from the varnish before it dries, hold it up to the light and carefully inspect it for any foreign objects. That said we don't recommend it and suggest that if in any doubt get it done by a professional. If you are not sure whether it is oil or acrylic please proceed with caution, see above.
Any questions, please don't hesitate to ask. Either post here in the comments and I will answer or email me at john@sallymitchell.com