How long do you wait for your oil paintings to dry before selling them?

[CLS Portrait Artist]

After completing an oil painting, how long do you wait for it to dry before you offer it for sale?

I'm new to oil painting and just purchased some Winsor and Newton Artists Oil paints along with some Maimeri Drying Medium after learning it takes months for oil paintings to dry.

[LarrySeiler]

I use Garrett copal medium on my oils...and they've been dry to touch within 2-3 days.

If I travel...and folks are interested in a work I am doing on location...not wanting to lose a sale, I'll keep some flat pizza boxes on hand. I put masking tape on the inside, stick the wet painting tight to the bottom...(I paint on primed panels...) close the lid and hand it to them wet. Let them have it...tell them to be careful in its carrying. About two weeks later they can have it framed if they should wish.

The copal has enough sheen to it when dry...is a natural hardener and I don't need to necessarily varnish. I tell them if they would like to have it varnished....have the framer use a Kamar Krylon spray and apply a couple coats. No biggy...

I've done postcard dailies for my blog...had a sale on the day or near day after painted...and its in the mail within 1-2 weeks on its way.

take care

Larry

[Ribera]

I believe oil paintings merely need be dry to the touch, if that much, for sale. Far as final picture varnish goes, that's altogether optional by the way. If you do, it ought be varnished 6 months after it's been finished, at the soonest. This varnish can, and usually must, be done after it's sold.

Else wise, if you're not the varnishing type, you may oil it out with extra fat medium (a.k.a. oil-out medium) to bring the sheen back. This way, you need wait but a few days, although it won't protect the paint.

[CLS Portrait Artist]

Thanks Larry and Ribera for taking the time to share this information with me.

Larry, do you use the Copal concentrate or the medium heavy? And how much is required per painting?

[polyrealism]

i sold a few paintings right from my studio while they still were wet... i offer my buyers free varnishing service if they bring the painting to me after 6 months, but nobody took me on this yet :)

[dbclemons]

You can apply retouch varnish after about one week of drying. This will give the benefit of a temporary varnish layer until a final varnish can be added. That has been my method.

The 6 month rule for varnishing is a generalization; if you paint thickly it could take one year to cure, or possibly longer. If you paint rather thinly, or use driers or alkyd mediums, then you can varnish after as little as two weeks. It depends on how you paint and what you use.

[polyrealism]

...If you...use driers or alkyd mediums, then you can varnish after as little as two weeks...that's something i've never heard before. not to try to doubt you or something, but i'd feel much more comfortable if you could support this with some good links, preferably to long term tests.

[donn_granros]

I've been fiddling around with Lukas medium #5 (a gel). The stuff dries amazingly fast. It even dries on my pallette within a couple of hours.

[rroberts]

if you're not the varnishing type, you may oil it out with extra fat medium (a.k.a. oil-out medium) to bring the sheen back. This way, you need wait but a few days, although it won't protect the paint.

This is NOT a good idea.
Oil yellows. Period.
Retouch varnish would be much more preferable.
You can also use a wax such as Gamblin Cold Wax Medium.

[dbclemons]

Originally Posted by dbclemons:...can varnish after as little as two weeks...

that's something i've never heard before. not to try to doubt you or something, but i'd feel much more comfortable if you could support this with some good links, preferably to long term tests.

Here's a few; although, I can't speak for what tests they made:

Gamblin: (http://www.gamblincolors.com/faq/varnish.html)
"...Some paintings are dry enough to varnish after two weeks. Some are not ready for two years..."

From Winsor & Newton (http://www.winsornewton.com/mainEN.php) "Oil Colour Book" (Griffin Alkyds:)
"Thorough drying prior to varnishing is essential, and should be a minimum of one month in thin films of colour. Longer periods are necessary for thicker films."

From Mark Gottsegen "The Painter's Handbook":
"... alkyd paints can be varnished ...usually after one month"

and just for grins, Ralph Mayer:
"...as soon as ... completely dry - in the case of thin paintings a few weeks"

I myself prefer to error on the side of caution and wait as long as I can, usually the 6 months marker. Prior to that, I add a coat of retouch after about 1-2 weeks, but no longer than 1 month. While they sit around the studio, they're prone to getting reworked and touched up as I study them and make possible corrections, so I don't want to final varnish sooner than I have to.

[LarrySeiler]

The 6 month rule for varnishing is a generalization; if you paint thickly it could take one year to cure, or possibly longer. If you paint rather thinly, or use driers or alkyd mediums, then you can varnish after as little as two weeks. It depends on how you paint and what you use.


Interestingly...and its there to be read and studied as I did this past year working on my painting masters, reading about early American painters... a number of painters such as John Carlson...Hawthorne...then earlier still, Durand, Bierdstadt, Cole, Church...and so forth worked with an "oil of copal" in their paint.

It was interesting to read all the elaborate ways oil paintings were attempted to dry when these early pioneer painters ( 1840's to 1860's) would travel with explorers and naturalists...paint to bring back references to turn into larger paintings. In time their paintings afield were valued.

Some created metal bins with slots and holes on the sides to set out in the sun to bake dry. Using horseback to pack and bring many paintings back, usually on a primed paper...

The use of oil of copal facilitated their confidence to return home with paintings in good condition, and became common practice. Paintings drying to touch within several days or so...and the artists would camp an additional week after painting to let work dry.

It was either Carlson or Hawthorne that mentioned from using Oil of Copal that there was absolutely no problem with yellowing by varnishing the painting then a practice of taking it outdoors to "season" with the sun. Apparently this seasoning brightened and somehow set the painting to never yellow thereafter.

Last summer I taught two plein air workshops in Juneau, Alaska.

I prepared my gesso panels out there with students...incorporating Marc Hanson's use of pumice #FFF powder, and added one tablespoon of the powder to one cup of gesso. The ground works wonderfully for a nice drag of the brush, but absorbs the paint well. On top of that I used my Garrett's copal medium, and I did a total of 22 paintings. I sold or gave some away and brought 14 of them home.

The last painting I did which I brought on the flight home with me was painted two days before boarding the plane. It was completely dry to touch the morning I packed my backpack as carry on. I wrapped 14 paintings in wax paper wrap, slid them into my backpack. Arrived home in Wisconsin with absolutely no issue whatsoever.

I waited perhaps a week after getting home to use Kamar Krylon spray to varnish.

I've done this copal/varnishing thing now for nearly a decade...and with those works I have yet on hand have seen no yellowing...no ill effects for not waiting 3-6 months. NONE....!!

So...indeed...it really comes down to your practices and methods...but don't rule out what works for others... :)

take care...

[dbclemons]

From what I've read on the use of copal resins for painting,
pro: it's makes a good leveling (fluid) medium, glossy if you want that, it's a hard resin resitant to cleaning solvents.

con: a hard resin resitant to solvents (:)) which makes it difficult to remove if that becomes necessary, has a tendency to darken over time, can be brittle when dried, and there are synthetic substitutes with the "copal" name which causes confusion.

I understand yellowing to be an issue specifically with damar and mastic, but since they're removeable varnishes that's less of a concern.

[LarrySeiler]

here is a thread for further reading on copal medium....REAL copal...not the store bought resin cheap variety...and artists asking the maker of this (which has been made in his family for generations)...Ron Garrett...

http://www.wetcanvas.com/forums/showthread.php?t=241341

the yellowing, brittle, cracking and so forth alleged issues...

hope it helps clear some confusion up...

Larry

[dbclemons]

Thanks for that thread link, Larry.

Here's more from James Groves (http://www.jamescgroves.com/gellingcopalvarnish.htm).

The reports of brittleness seems based on the resin itself, but is offset when it's combined with oil in a medium. As for the other issues, it may just come down to how certain companies process it, or the use of added driers, etc.

My own exposure to copal is very limited. I tried it many years ago and found it too glossy for my taste. It was genuine copal, but I don't remember from whom.

[LarrySeiler]

sure...understand,

I use only 2-3 drops per one inch ribbon of paint as it comes out of a 37ml tube...if that helps. The result is a slight sheen at best...yet dries well. Love the buttery consistency it gives me....and how it pulls the punch out of color which I look for in nature...

Larry