I do it all of the time, with no problems

Deb

The exception might be if you use a solvent based (non water based) varnish. It may not work well in that case.

Ah, that’s good to know. I never use solvent based anything — can’t stand the ordor. I use a product called “Varathane” which is water-based.

http://www.polyclay.com/flecto.htm

It’s a polymer coating for wood, but I love it because it is the most self-leveling covering I have found. I could apply it with a scrub brush and it would still dry as smooth as glass. The varnish and gloss mediums by either Golden or Liquitex always get streaky on me. Varathane is also UV protectant and non yellowing.

Deb

KA, Varathane comes in gloss, semi-gloss, and satin. I even put this on my watercolors — BUT, first I spray them with a fixative so the color doesn’t move. I usually put 3 coats on. At least 2 for sure. The nice thing about varnishing acrylics is that it imparts a uniform shine, or matt to the painting. It just gives it a professional finished look in my very humble opinion.

If you use the Golden or Liquitex products you must be very careful to not get brush strokes, and on large pieces you would have to work very fast. Varathane not only levels so nicely, it has a much longer open working time. I think it is the most perfect product on the market, and yet, I don’t know of one other person who uses it. .

Deb

For those of you using the polymer varnishes, have you read the instructions properly? I only mention it because it does specificy say on Golden’s site that they MUST be thinned with water. http://www.goldenpaints.com/technicaldata/polvar.php
They recommend anything from 1-3 parts varnish to thinner – http://www.goldenpaints.com/technicaldata/varnapp1.php – depending on how you’re applying.

And the isolation coat seems vital, it’s mentioned on these pages and others and seems to also help problems with inconsistent finish, brushstrokes, and absorption of the varnish. Here’s the intro to varnish page too, http://www.goldenpaints.com/technicaldata/varnapp.php

Tina.

Deb, Linda, KA, I thought I recognised the name, as you can see from the link Varathane is a polyurethane varnish and should not be used for varnishing acrylic paintings if you care about the long term. They are impossible to remove from acrylics without posing a serious risk to the paint itself and are also much too hard to be used safely on flexible supports like stretched canvas (with the possible exception of synthetic fibres like polyester).

Polyurethanes are ideal for craft applications where you want to provide a really tough protective finish to a project but I would recommend you not to use them for fine-art work.

I even put this on my watercolors — BUT, first I spray them with a fixative so the color doesn’t move. I usually put 3 coats on. At least 2 for sure.

Do you apply varnish to saturate the colours or because you don’t like to frame them behind glass? You probably already know this but it’s really not standard practice to varnish watercolours, or work on paper in general

Linda, ideally one should never paint on top of any varnish and if you varnish with proper removable final picture varnish intended for acrylics (these are all spirit-soluble varnishes, such as Golden’s MSA or Soluvar from Liquitex) if you paint on top of it and at some point in the future the painting is cleaned the work will also remove anything you’ve painted on top of it, assuming it hadn’t peeled off by itself

Einion

Well, this certainly doesn’t look like a good product in the ‘long’ run, but… I must say that I haven’t noticed any of the problems that are spoken about. Of course, I (personally) don’t plan on ever removing ANY varnish, so I never gave that much thought. I wish I could say that I have no dust in my house, but I bet no one would believe that. So far a quick wipe with a the dust rag seems to take care of that problem. I doubt I will ever have mold on or in my paintings as I live in North Dakota and trust me on this… heat and humidity is not a problem. That, of course, is not the case in many areas of the world, so Varathane probably wouldn’t be the finish coating of choice. As far as hardness and flexibility… this stuff does NOT dry stiff or brittle. In fact, I’ve removed a canvas and re-stretched it without any problems at all. I was able to roll the canvas. In fact, I send all of my watercolor/acrylics/mix media paintings rolled in tubes. There has never been a problem with flexibility. Well, those are my experiences. On smaller canvases I may go back to using the Liquitex varnish, but I know I will get streaks.

Eninon, I do indeed varnish my watercolors for several reasons. Mostly because it brings back the original glorious colors of wet watercolor. I realize that they would be disqualified for some art shows, but that’s ok with me. In the end I like the look of the brightest color I can achieve. Most often I do a mixture of both watercolor an acrylic in the same work. I still put the finished painting under glass. I did go through a phase where I affixed the painting on canvas. It works ok for smaller pieces, but large sheets of watercolor paper pose all sorts of bubble problems when affixing to any surface.

I tend to push the edge of the envelope when it comes to what I do with my art, and more often than not break all or most of the rules. It is probably a good idea for folks not to listen to what I say, as I will probably lead you astray…

Balsa1, The Varathane I use is the water-based one. I don’t use solvents. My studio Assistants have poo-pooed the idea of solvents in this house. http://www.deborahs-art.com/StudioAssistants.htm BTW, LOVE your avatar!

Deb

Lovely dogs Deb!

Einion

Thanks Einion for your kind words about my mutts. They’re brats to the max, spoiled rotten, and rule this roost.

Deb