Help with glare (varnish)

Zachary Thornton · 07-11-2006, 04:22 PM

Hello everyone. I cover my paintings with a mixture of galkyd and OMS. This creates a nice even gloss and unifies the painting. (Is this considered a retouch varnish?)
However, I hate the fact that the painting, if not lit just so, is plagued by glare. This glare destroys the image. I'm going to try using gamblin Cold Wax Medium and see what that does. Does anyone have any advice?

Thanks!

PS. I use a lot of darks and black and notice that the glare is seemingly worsened when the paint surface is uneven.

Alexandra Tyng · 07-11-2006, 04:54 PM

Zachary,

I am sure your problem is shared by a lot of artists. Personally, I prefer a satin finish--not too shiny, but with enough gloss to bring out the color and depth. My way is probably not for everyone, since I've noticed that many artists prefer a shinier finish. I use Soluvar (made by Liquitex), which comes in gloss and matte. I mix equal parts of gloss and matte, and dilute with real gum turpentine. (If you don't dilute it, it's too thick to brush on.)

Richard Bingham · 07-11-2006, 06:17 PM

Zachary, without inviting any "wars" over painting mediums, suffice to say that with the exception of properly oiling out sunk-in passages in a thoroughly dry painting, "overcoating" with any painting medium is inadvisable, and not the same thing as applying a "final varnish".

The purpose of varnishing a painting is to provide a protective barrier between the finished painting and environmental elements that will degrade it - dust, dirt, smoke, mild abrasion, etc. The archival intention is to be able to remove this protective coating at some point, along with embedded dirt, thus preserving the painting as it was when finished.

To that end, the traditional (at least for the last 150 years or so) approach has been to apply a soft resin varnish which remains soluble in its parent solvent. Damar is one, mastic is another. As mastic alone is more prone to yellowing or discoloring in time, damar has been preferred.

Final varnish is not diluted as a retouch varnish is, but generally is a saturated solution, usually a 5# cut. (five pounds of resin dissolved in a gallon of turpentine).

Properly varnishing a painting requires some experience and skill; the painting should be laid horizontal on a table, the varnish applied evenly, then manipulated to a desired lustre. I prefer a mix of damar and mastic (about 60/40) because the mixture is far easier to control than damar alone, and easily laid off with the brush to a less than high-gloss finish.

There are now final varnishes on the market compounded entirely of synthetics which promise to be an improvement over the natural resin varnishes. Gamvar is one which comes highly recommended by people I trust., but I haven't gotten around to testing it yet.

A parting thought - a painting should be thoroughly dry before applying the final varnish, and the state of dryness has less to do with specified time lapse than the nature of the paint films and ambient conditions. As a rule of thumb, usually six months to a year, though.

Gary Hoff · 07-11-2006, 07:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Richard Bingham

:....a painting should be thoroughly dry before applying the final varnish, and the state of dryness has less to do with specified time lapse than the nature of the paint films and ambient conditions. As a rule of thumb, usually six months to a year, though.

I just read an interesting (and logical) passage in Carlson's book about landscape painting. He asserted, writing originally in the 1920s, that one should either varnish an oil painting right away, in the first month after it is complete, or after the requisite year. His logic is that if you varnish the painting within the month, "the varnish is more or less incorporated with the pigment underneath" and if you can't varnish early, you should varnish only in a year. The real danger of getting cracking is in varnishing a half-dry picture. It does make sense that the varnish (probably damar in Carlson's case) diluted with turp might do that kind of thing. According to him, he'd had no cracking following those rules.

Richard Bingham · 07-11-2006, 07:55 PM

That's correct, all respect due John Fabian . . . (one of my favorites!)

However, it's not really in the best interst of the painting to incorporate the "final varnish" into the actual painting, which will happen through solvent transfer when the painting is fresh. It is a way to turn out a painting in a completely presentable state, though.

David Carroll · 07-13-2006, 08:56 PM

I believe Carlson used copal varnish as his retouch. He also used it as a medium mixed with turps and sometimes added stand oil. It's been a while since I last read his wonderful guide to landscape painting. Great book though. Thanks for bringing it up Gary

Peace, Dave

Zachary Thornton · 07-14-2006, 04:51 AM

Thank you Richard and everyone for the input. What should I be useing as a temporary retouch varnish when I whish to show the painting just after completion. Will not a painting medium, overpainted, act as a sort of retouch varnish?

With commissions, since you can't varnish for a year, what do you all do?

Could you describe the process or "oiling out" a painting. Will this technique solve the problem of dull colors and and uneven surface?

Thanks again.

PS. I still am wondering about the cold wax as a varnish. I'm going to try it soon. Has anyone else tried it?

Richard Bingham · 07-14-2006, 01:56 PM

David, I believe you correctly recalled Carlson's outline of his use of copal. Simply put, good mediums are a balance of solvent, (to control viscosity and drying) a resin (for the character it imparts to paint) and oil (plasticizer and binder).

Zachary, for re-touch varnish, damar or copal are the obvious best choices. Starting with a saturated solution, (usually a 5# cut) either should then be reduced 50% with turps for retouching. Either will serve the purpose of "pulling up" sunk-in passages and visually unifying the surface of the painting. Damar remains re-soluble in turps, copal does not, and that makes it an ideal isolating varnish for working further.

Note the small amount of solids in retouch varnishes is designed to result in application of a very minimal amount of resin to the surface. While "overcoating" with a painting medium (whatever it may be) would certainly result in "raising" the sunk-in pasages and unifying the surface, that's inadvisable because too much "fat" material would be incorporated into the uppermost layer. Keep in mind in time, all vehicles (oils, resins, solvents) ultimately yellow and darken, and the best way to prevent that is to maintain an optimal balance of pigment and vehicle in paint layers.

"Oiling out" involves working a very small amount of linseed oil into the surface of a thoroughly dry painting with the heel of the palm of your hand using enough friction to warm the surface. The purpose is to "balance" the oil content of lean, sunk-in areas. By definition, linseed oil is a "varnish", and oiling out balances the oil content of lean passages, and does unify the surface. (and without a lot of gloss)

Problems varnishing commission pieces? Unfortunately for me, my work hasn't been distributed widely enough (yet!) that re-visiting a piece to apply a coat of final varnish hasn't been a problem. It's not a bad thing to have this periodic contact with your client, and a makes a good excuse for keeping in touch. It's good PR too, demonstrating your comittment and reliability. As for waiting, it's usually possible to apply final varnish well inside of a year.

If you desire a "flat" final varnish, a mixture of damar and high quality beeswax will produce a reasonable varnish that pretty well eliminates sheen. The drawback is that the "real" value of dark passages is compromised, since a "flat" surface presents what you're trying to avoid by retouching a picture . . . that is, it looks "sunk in".

I would avoid applying wax only, because most wax preparations are not hard enough to be cleanable, and the surface of that film will more readily absorb dust, dirt and soot.