Tips and Tricks for Making Your Acrylic Painting Last

It makes sense that, as artists, we would assume the most important parts of our art are the colors, designs, lines, brush strokes, or even our muse. When it comes to acrylic painting, we’re talking about the finished product – the thing that everyone sees at the end and admires. What we may not pay as much attention to (but definitely should) are the beginning layer and the end layer of the piece. These features are extremely important if we want the art to last.

In this blog post, I want to talk about the importance of properly prepping your surface before you begin painting, and how you can protect your artwork after you’ve completed it. After all, your painting can be destroyed by the elements from the moment you put your brush to the surface. I know it sounds intimidating, but it’s vital that you understand the importance of these steps, and that you learn how to take care of your art from start to finish, and everything in between.

The Painting Ground
To start with, you need to make sure that a substrate has been properly base coated. This will allow the paints or mediums to form a secure bond to the surface, therefore resulting in a painting that will last a lifetime. To achieve this, the medium and the base coat have to be compatible. This is a very important step, because if you have incompatible aspects, then your painting can develop cracks and end up separating from the surface.

Every medium has a preferred ground that you’ll want to work with, and you’ll find that not every type of paint will stick to every surface. You can still apply the paints to other surfaces, but if you want the best, longest-lasting results, you’ll want to keep the following pairings in mind:

Acrylic – acrylic primed cotton canvas or wood surfaces
Watercolor – 100% pure cotton rag watercolor paper
Oil – oil primed linen or cotton canvas
Pastel – sand-coated paper or textured heavyweight paper
Colored Pencil/Charcoal – smooth or slightly toothy heavyweight paper
Marker – coated marker paper
Encaustic – encaustic gessoed wooden panels
Egg Tempera – rabbit glue gessoed wood surfaces
Alcohol Inks – clean, non-porous surfaces including tile, metal, glass, and Yupo

Of course, the list could continue forever, but you get the idea. If you don’t take the time to prepare your substrate properly, then your paint won’t have anything to adhere to.

Acrylic Paints with the Golden Touch
Golden Artist Colors, Inc., also known as “Golden,” has developed multiple acrylic grounds and gessos to ensure that your colors stay where you need them to. Here at Cheap Joe’s, we offer the following Golden Acrylic Gessos:

White or Black Acrylic Gesso – a ready-to-use acrylic liquid ground that’s prepared with more dry solids than acrylic paint, which provides tooth and expertly prepares a substrate for oil or acrylic application.

It’s important to note that, while oil paints will stick to this ground, an oil painting ground or primer tends to make a better base coat for oils. You can also apply watercolors to an acrylic ground with minimal water content, but there are specific “watercolor gessos” that are designed to keep watercolor washes from resisting the acrylic surface. This can cause the paint to bead up and form a puddle on the surface.

Hard Sandable Gesso – this gesso results in a harder surface and heavier consistency when dried and gives you the option to leave various textures on your painting surface.
Acrylic Ground for Pastels – features a fine grit that offers the required tooth to hold the pastel dust to the substrate.

Now that you’ve created a strong surface base coat, you can move on to the most exciting part – the painting! You can express yourself to your heart’s content, knowing that you don’t have to worry about your painting getting ruined.

If you’re looking for a new set of gels, consider checking out the Golden Introductory Gel Medium Set. This set is a great way for you to sample some popular gels before buying full-sized products.

We love Golden because they have the most expansive line of professional quality paints, gels, mediums, and texture mediums. Check out any of the following categories to find the highest quality products at great prices:

Golden Open Acrylics
Golden Heavy Body Acrylics
Golden Fluid Acrylics
Golden Gels
Golden Molding Paste
Golden Specialty Mediums
Golden Texture Mediums
Golden Fluid Mediums

Protect Your Work, Don’t Forget the Final Layer
Now that you’ve created a beautiful piece of artwork, it’s time to apply the top coat. This acts as a barrier to help protect your art from various dangers, such as grime, dust, fingerprints, sand, oils, or light. While light is important when it comes to viewing the artwork, it will also immediately start working to deteriorate the piece. The longer the art is exposed to the light, the duller the colors will become. The paint can also begin to crack and separate from your substrate. This might not happen right away. It could take years for you to visibly see any damage on your painting. But that doesn’t mean that it won’t happen eventually, so it’s imperative that you protect your art for as long as possible.

When it comes to varnishing, Golden has a pretty simple system. Here are the Golden Acrylic varnishes that we have available at Cheap Joe’s:

Golden Polymer Varnishes with UVLs
This is a water-based acrylic polymer varnish that is formulated to provide extra defense from ultraviolet radiation. Designed as a topcoat for acrylic paints, this varnish offers a removable protective surface for the soft acrylic paint layer. It tends to have a harder film than most acrylic paints, allowing the surface to be less susceptible to dirt and dust. It also provides enhanced protection from any moisture, marring, or scratching that may occur. The Polymer Varnish is intended for indoor use only and is not meant to be used on furniture or other surfaces that are prone to physical contact when in use.

This varnish can be removed easily because it remains soluble in alkaline solvents like ammonia. When removing the varnish, you will also simultaneously be removing any surface contamination. But don’t worry – the removal won’t cause any damage to the painting. If you’re trying to clean or restore a painting, then this could be a useful product for you.

The Polymer Varnish is available in three finishes: gloss, satin, and matte. The gloss will dry to an extremely reflective finish. The satin option still offers a moderate reflection. The matte varnish is flat. You’ll want to thin this varnish before use, and it’s preferable to either spray or use a brush application with Golden varnishes.

Golden Archival Spray Varnish (Mineral Spirit Acrylic Aerosol with UVLS)
I like to call this the “Do It All Varnish,” because it can quite literally do it all. You can use this varnish for almost anything because it has very few limitations. The Golden Archival Varnish is formulated with 100% solvent-based, reversible acrylic polymer resins. This product was designed to produce a clear, flexible film that will protect against various environmental concerns. It targets issues such as ultraviolet light, moisture, and dirt. Better yet, the cured coating is highly resistant to yellowing.

The Golden Archival Varnish will adhere well to most surfaces, as long as they aren’t oily. If you’re using it on fresh oil paint films, or if there are residual surfactants present with your water-based paint films, then the varnish may not stick very well. This varnish remains flexible and defies alterations in appearance as time goes on.

Media Application Methods for Golden Archival Varnish
We know that different paints and substrates have their ideal circumstances. It’s important to abide by these circumstances when using the Golden Archival Varnish. Before you begin, you should always start by testing out the varnish on either a scrap piece or a non-visible area before proceeding to use the product on your final artwork.

Listed below are general application guidelines for common substrates. For example, permeable substrates require multiple layers of gloss to seal the surface. For more detailed information regarding concerns about specific media, please review various information sources, such as artists’ handbooks.

Applying Acrylic Paint Isolation Coats
With acrylic paints, isolation coats need to be applied per the MSA Varnish directions. You can find these directions in the main Golden Varnish document. You’ll want to give the varnish 24 hours to cure the final isolation coat layer. Once that’s finished, you can continue to build layers of the Archival Varnish if necessary.

When working with acrylic paints, you’ll want to consider using an isolation coat. This is something that is only used on acrylic paintings; it should never be used on oil paintings. An isolation coat is a permanent coating that works to separate the removable varnish from the paint surface. It aids in the protection of your surface in case the varnish is ever removed. So, if you’re going to be working on any conservation or varnish removal projects in the future, using an isolation coat before varnishing can be very beneficial.

If you’re wanting to use a brush application, you can alter the isolation to the right medium by diluting the Golden Soft Gel Gloss with some water. You’ll want to use two parts by volume of the Soft Gel Gloss to one part of water. If you prefer a spray application, use a two-to-one mixture of Golden GAC-500 to the Transparent Airbrush Extender. This product can be applied with a touch-up spray unit, an airbrush, or any kind of commercial spray equipment.

You might have to increase the number of isolation layers you put on your surface, depending on how absorbent it ends up being. For most non-absorbent surfaces, you should be fine with one or two coats of isolation. For more absorbent surfaces, you could end up using two or more brush application coats, or three or more if you’re using a spray application. You want the final result to have a satin sheen to it, so you’ll need to make adjustments accordingly.

Oil/Water Soluble Oils or Alkyd Paints
For oil/water soluble oils or Alkyd paints, you’ll want to account for a minimum curing time of 6-12 months (if you’re using the isolation coat as a final varnish). If it’s just a temporary varnish, make sure the painting is dry to the touch before using anything on it. Having substantial layers of oil paint that isn’t dry will hinder oxidation development, causing the varnish to fail. The number of layers you’ll need will vary, so just apply layers of the Archival Varnish with UVLs as you see fit for your artwork.

Graphite/Pastels/Colored Pencil/Marker/Watercolor/Gouache
Results of using the Archival Spray Varnish over these mediums have varied drastically, so it’s extremely important that you do not use the product to top coat, varnish, or fix your artwork without running extensive tests beforehand. We’ve found that the varnish can cause an overall darkening of the artwork, which could potentially be avoided, but should be noted anyway. After all, you don’t want to ruin your piece!

If you decide to use the varnish after testing it first, make sure you begin by applying light coats of gloss varnish. When dried, these light layers will eventually form a glossy film. Once you’ve accomplished that, you can move on to applying layers of whatever sheen you want.

Applying Varnish with Inkjet Prints
With inkjet prints, you can usually put the Golden Archival Varnish with UVLs directly onto the print, but you’ll still want to take the substrate absorbency and your desired protection level into consideration. Multiple thin coats will work for moisture resistance, but you’ll want to do some testing if you’re going to be applying any gels that are water-based on top of the varnish.

Special Uses for Varnishes
There are a few other special finishes that the varnishes can be used with. These finishes are watercolor and alcohol ink. In the past, it wasn’t very common for artists to apply varnish to their watercolor paintings due to the fear of potential alteration of the piece. However, some current artists have ventured out and sealed their watercolor paintings with a varnish, and are okay with the changes that will occur. If you’re interested in trying out this technique, it’s a good idea to test it out on a smaller watercolor first before moving on to a large piece.

When you’re ready to begin the application, you’ll want to spray the piece with the Golden Archival Gloss Spray Varnish, applying three light coats. Make sure you allow each coat to dry before going in with the next one. Then you can go in with additional coats of either a matte or satin finish.

You can see the difference between the two watercolor paintings in this image. The top tile was sprayed with a satin varnish, and the bottom was not sprayed at all.

For anything made with an alcohol ink finish, you don’t necessarily need to use a varnish at all. Dried ink tends to be quite durable, so you most likely won’t need any extra protection. If you find that you do need an added layer (like if you aren’t planning on framing the piece) then you can seal it with a spray varnish. If you need further protection, apply a brush-on coat afterward. You’ll want to make sure that the product is fully dry, so allow it to do so overnight, and then you can proceed with applying one or two coats of the gloss. Follow that up with either a satin or matte layer; this will alter the sheen.

Note: When using the satin and matte finishes, make sure you consider their solids matting agents. These agents help to reduce the sheen of your artwork. This is imperative when you decide to apply these to darker, more saturated colors (like alcohol inks) because heavy coats will end up giving you a dull, cloudy finish.

For more thorough information on these varnish products, please visit Golden’s website.

Things To Remember When Applying Varnish
Before using any of the varnishes, don’t forget to shake your spray varnish can. It’s recommended that you do this for at least two minutes. This is a very important step, so don’t forget! It doesn’t matter how you shake it, just that you do so for the entire recommended duration. Check out this video that Golden made, where they demonstrate various ways to shake a varnish can:

It’s also super important that you take your time during the application process. You want to apply the varnish correctly the first time, to avoid any damage to your painting. The following video is a demonstration of the right way to apply the spray to achieve the best results:

When you use products from Golden Artist Colors, Inc., you can create with confidence that you’re working with some of the best materials on the market. This company is very well-known in the world of acrylic painting materials, and for good reason. They’ve spent many years perfecting their products!

If you find yourself needing more in-depth information about any of Golden’s products, you can head on over to their website. They have a great site that has tons of educational and instructional materials. They also have several tutorial videos that can show you how to use their products. If you still have questions after viewing their website, you can contact their representatives. They have plenty of artists and employees who will be happy to assist you!

If you’re looking for more art inspiration, make sure to browse around our blog page. You’ll find tons of posts on all sorts of topics. Also, don’t forget to check out Cheap Joe’s Facebook page, where you’ll find the most recent updates on our best deals, as well as other information about our Art Stuff.

After reading through this blog post, we hope we’ve been successful in helping you recognize the importance of protecting your artwork. When you put so much time and effort into making something beautiful, you want it to last a lifetime. So, the next time you find yourself wanting to start a new acrylic painting, refer back to these tips and tricks for protecting your piece. A solid defense begins with proper preparation and ends with the right protective coat.

We’ve given you the best tools for the beginning and end, but the middle (the best part!) is up to you. So what are you waiting for? Get those creative juices flowing and start on your next painting today. We’re sure it’ll be the best one yet, and you’ll be able to enjoy it for years to come thanks to these preservation techniques.