Blondheim Art Daisy Original Painting Puzzle

6 piece original acrylic painting puzzle

10.00 includes shipping

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Painters Tip

Varnishing

Those flat, dead spots are common to almost all oil paintings, as are the occasional glossy spot. Different pigments hold different amounts of oil. It is the oil that makes the paint glossy. Think of the oil as a glue that holds the granules of pigment together. If you thin the oil with turpentine, the binding oil floats away from the surface of the pigment and drains to the bottom side, making a surface like sandpaper with its exposed granules. That's why overly thinned paint looks flat when dried. It's also much weaker because the granules are not fully encapsulated in oil.

But too much oil or medium causes the granules to float apart and the spaces are filled with oil which does not reflect light with the same brilliance as the pure pigment. That difference in reflectivity causes the reflections to interfere with each other and cancel out much of the brilliance. Gloss does not necessarily equal brilliancy of color. Long ago, painters discovered a much better and safer method of unifying the surface of a painting,resin varnishes.

The most commonly used is Damar varnish, a varnish made by dissolving Damar crystals in turpentine . Full strength, Damar varnish is used as a final picture varnish and as an ingredient with wax mediums (it's also widely and erroneously used with oil painting mediums). If you thin Damar varnish to twice that of the picture varnish you produce Retouch Varnish. Retouch is used between painting sessions or to even out the look of the painting while waiting for final varnish time.

Final varnish is determined by your choice of whether to use gloss, semi-gloss or matte picture varnish over the entire surface. Aside from unifying the surface, the picture varnish acts as an easily removable layer that holds the dust and grime away from the actual paint. The dried picture varnish can be easily removed with turpentine, at which point the painting is further cleaned and, once dry, receives another coat of picture varnish. Obviously, the paint must be fully hardened before applying a picture varnish. That usually takes between four to six months.