Problem Fixed...I Can Breath

January 21, 2012

Problem Fixed...I Can Breath

It was bugging me, I could not concentrate on anything for a day, and I was stressing even more when the conservator never called me back to give me a quote for removing the retouch varnish and re-varnishing my painting. I didn't want too much time to pass, and I was too impatient to wait to get this problem fixed later this week. When you want things done right and in time you have to do it yourself. I went back to the studio, set the painting flat on a stool and I proceeded by working in turpentine with clean paper towels. I was lucky that the varnish hadn't dried completely, and it reactivated with the solvent.

The excess varnish was being picked up by the paper towels, while at the same time leaving enough behind to keep the painting a bit glossy. One of he major problems in the first place was that the varnish had become thicker as the thinner in it evaporated from the bottle. This is what caused it to take longer to dry allowing it to create drips.

After removing the varnish I applied a new coat, this time it was thinned down with more turpentine, this made the varnish level out quicker and it also became more flexible, not leaving any brush marks behind.

Another thing I discovered is that a good soft synthetic varnishing brush works a lot better than a natural hair soft brush. It didn't leave hairs or other strange debris behind. Now my painting is drip free and ready for showing, that's if I knew where to submit the painting.