How long does it take varnish to dry on a painting. If working with oils leave to dry for 6 12 months depending upon oil film thickness choose your desired format and sheen. Dry time may very and depends on thickness of paint application as well as environmental humidity. If you varnish your painting too soon before the acrylic paint has dried all the way through the varnish may wind up cloudy due to the trapped moisture.
Remove old varnish before re varnishing a work. If you have very thin paint application with earth colours an oil painting can be fully dry within a couple of months but for a thicker painting it may take 6 months or as long as 2 years. I let the first coat dry for about 3 4 hours then i gently touch the surface with my freshly washed finger to ensure that it is indeed dry.
Although painters sometimes refer to oil or water based polyurethane finishes as varnishes the term varnish usually refers to a clear oil based alkyd finish. Latex paints tend to dry more quickly than their counterparts. How to dry tacky varnish.
For most artists waiting 6 months or a year to varnish can seem a bit excessive especially if the piece is for an exhibition or a commission that you cant easily revisit to varnish at a later date. Removable varnish if working with acrylics allow paint to completely dry 72 hours 2 weeks depending on thickness before moving to the varnish stage. Timeframes between varnish coats.
Gamblin recommends oiling out using a liberal coating of 11 galkyd painting medium and gamsol odorless mineral spirits to a dry painting 2 to either the whole painting or just an area leaving this to be absorbed for about two minutes and then wiping off the excess. I suggest a minimum wait time of one week but some acrylic artists wait as much as 6 weeks just to be sure the acrylic paint is fully dried through and through. A coat usually takes about an hour until the.
With all varnishes make sure paintings are completely dry. This is because varnishes are resoluble and a more cured varnish layer is slower to reactivate and facilitates an easier secondary application. We recommend waiting a bare minimum of 4 to 6 hours between coats of brushed applied varnish but if time isnt a critical factor wait overnight.
I usually give my photorealist paintings 2 coats of varnish. If you choose to use a damar type varnish the bottom line is let the painting cure up to six months for thinner paint applications before varnishing and let it dry up to two years for thicker applied paint.
Artists Materials Sinking In Oiling Out And Retouching Varnish Part 1 Natural Pigments
www.naturalpigments.com