Easel Talk

Questions and Answers

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Bits & Pieces

Questions and Answers

I seem to have a continuous flow of questions ending up on my PC. Generally I try and answer these questions individually, but it takes up an enormous amount of time so I thought that perhaps a lot more painters could benefit if we put them onto the web-page.

Please, if you have questions that are bothering you, let me have them and I’ll do my best to answer them.

1) How do you find inspiration every day?

A: I don’t, but I find being in my studio inspires me. Even when I don’t feel like painting, just going through the motions of painting triggers something in me and very soon I’m totally absorbed.

2) This one is from Nicole: What is the difference between a biography and a CV?

A: As far as I’m concerned a biography is a book or booklet telling of a person’s life and work. An autobiography is where you write those things about yourself.
Curriculum Vitae or CV is a list of especially educational achievements generally provided when applying for a job or in this case some Arts activity.
What many call a CV is in fact an Artist’s Profile where you list things like where you were born, early interest in art, some education and training, past exhibitions and galleries, articles in which you are mentioned and even possibly some of your aspirations.

3) Again Nicole: Thanks Nicole! This one asks about varnishing completed oil paintings. Should you, or is it not necessary? What about giving it a coat of Liquin or other Alkyd resin coat? She also asks about Retouching Varnish.

A: The answer is that oil paintings should be varnished. I’m no chemist but did a lot of research on the subject before writing a book about Artist’s Materials pertaining to South African conditions and availability some years ago.
I have no doubt whatsoever that all oil paintings MUST be varnished. Oil paint dries slowly and essentially by absorption rather than evaporation. This means that any surface dirt will slowly be drawn into the paint itself. At a certain point without the varnish protection the painting will be ruined. The only way to clean it then will be to actually scrape the top layers of the paint surface away and that is hardly an option. A problem facing most selling artists is that once a painting has been completed it needs to be sent to the gallery or whatever other outlet the artist uses. Does one then send it unvarnished or do you have to wait the mandatory 8 to 12 months before you can let it leave the studio?
The answer is no, you can send it out and give it some protection by giving it a coat or two of retouching varnish. This is a very light varnish made of Damar resin. It will eventually be absorbed into the paint surface but should protect the painting till it can be given a final varnish. That is about twelve months.
How on earth are you going to get the painting back to give it that final varnish? You aren’t but any gallery worth their salt will recommend to their customers that the painting be brought back to them or be taken to a restorer for varnishing. If it comes back to a gallery near you then you can varnish the painting of course. You can also provide a note stuck onto the painting that it is only protected for six to twelve months and what they should then do.

Giving it a coat of Liquin or Alkyd resin is not an option. There is an old adage that “In painting you must be able to undo everything that you do”. After the Alkyd resin has dried it is almost impossible to remove without damaging the paint surface. The whole point of varnishing is to give the painting a protective surface that will in time be removed with all the dirt etc. and then the varnish reapplied again. You cannot do that with Liquin or any other alkyd resin medium. Those are mediums and not varnishes. Once you have applied those they are on for good so not a good idea at all.

Retouching can be used with care throughout the painting process. It is very light and as I said it will be absorbed. It has some useful characteristics though and that is it restores dulled or ‘sunken’ colours. It seals the paint surface to a degree, and even prepares the paint surface for further painting.
I prefer the spray on Retouching Varnish and always select using one of the better-known brands. It is expensive but I find I cannot do without it and have been using it for the better part of 40 years.

4) Marie: If you double-frame, does that not dull the painting?

A: Not if you use clear glass. I never use the non- reflective stuff ever!

5) Marie: Do fixatives eventually discolour (e.g turning more yellow)?

A: I don’t think the better quality fixatives discolour but some people use stuff like Hair Spray and who knows what goes in there? I’m looking forward to hear what Winsor and Newton have to say? I just believe that the final layers of pastel should not be fixed and so they should not be affected by the fixative underneath.

6) Marie's Observation: I like experimenting and playing around and often stumble upon some wonderful discoveries. I have found that I could apply pastels shortly after I have sprayed.......this wettish spray then becomes a tacky base.
Of course this is fraught with difficulties and pit falls. What do you think?

A: I have done that with Conte but do not make a habit of it. I cannot see that it could adversely affect chalk especially the darker and harder colours.

7) Marie's Observation: I always work with darker harder pastels (Conte) first and then apply the soft colours on top. However, I never seem to be able to work hard on hard successfully. Unfortunately the lovely soft and light colours which I apply afterwards are the ones I blast away!

A: That is the correct way - Hard to soft and dark to light. Hard on hard does not really work, neither soft on soft, or it does but it will only allow for very limited layering.
The soft colours are soft because they have very little binder, that being Gum Tragacanth, so it would blow off very easily. One doesn’t really want to disturb that top layer.
Don’t fix it.

Winsor and Newton's responses to Marie's questions and observations (above):

Your answer about fixatives is very good.
Using fixatives is not really an ideal solution because apart from the blasting problem if too much is used the fixative absorbs into the paper with the double effect of darkening the colour, especially pale shades and making the paper transparent and I know from my own experience just how hard it is to control the output from an aerosol can, the pressure release is sometimes too hard.

Yes we still do use shellac in our fixatives.

Just had a sudden thought, if Marie can get hold of either a perfume atomiser (very fine spray) or even the plastic hand fill spray container like the ones they use in hairdressers for spraying hair lacquer and fill these containers with liquid fixative a greater control can be exercised when spraying onto a picture. (Hair lacquer is very similar to fixative).

Watercolour pans
About the pan problem we have recently changed our formulations.
Previously pan colours did not contain any biocide but we have realised that a lot of our pans end up in hot and humid environments which tends to keep them wet hence the mould and fungal growths. With the newer pans this should now not be a problem.

Thanks to both Cassandra and Winsor and Newton for their comprehensive and quick reply!

For further questions email:
johnsart@artslink.co.za