If you are an artist working in acrylic and mixed media you might have wondered how to use the techniques on canvas and how to protect and preserve the mark making on the finished artwork since it's not protected by glass. Perhaps you've tried spray fixative and it worked for you. But what to do if you can't or don't want to use any aerosol spray? In this video I'll show you three different ways how to preserve and seal your beautiful marks from smudging, smearing or fading. If you are using mixed media techniques, especially water based media, including watercolor pencils, pastels, charcoal etc. on your canvas you need to seal it in and protect it. You spend a lot of time and effort on your artwork so here's how to best protect and keep the beautiful marks you made. ►► Get my FREE GUIDE - 5 Proven Ways To Loosen Up Your Painting Style www.danishpainter.com/free-guide
Thank you so much, Marie Louise! This was SO HELPFUL to me. I do a lot of collage work, and often draw around edges with Stabilo pencils or water soluble crayons. Lately I've been fixing those marks by brushing into them with gloss medium or Mod Podge or whatever other glue I was using in the work. That works well, and creates a nice smudgy effect... but sometimes I want those marks to stay crisp. Your plastic bag trick is going to be PERFECT for that!
Great to hear you are doing a lot of work Laurie 👏 I love collage and recently tried adding natural elements to some of my work - things like grass and leaves. There's just something intriguing about combining materials, isen't there?! 🎨
Merci Marie Louise pour cette belle démonstration ! La lumière est très bien rendue , intimiste et chaleureuse . Je te souhaite une excellente journée au Danemark 💕🌞
What lovely pictures, I wish I could paint like that. Is it not possible to just cover a finished acrylic picture in pouring medium? I bought a bottle of Efco fluid pouring medium months ago. It's very shiny which I usually don't like but it looks like it could be great for sealing in pencil, pastel and other marks if you literally poured it on the finished picture (no brushing required). I did an experiment mixing it with fluorescent paint on canvas and it looks like a glossy thick varnish. I'm wondering if you could use it as a final treatment to go under the varnish, whether or not you need an isolation coat as well.... What do you think?
Golden Gloss Archival Varnish is better then Workable fixative or fixative - and you will protect from colors changing with time bc it has UVLS - spray will aways be better then the risk of smudging your art.
Great tip. I use Golden spray archival gloss varnish at the completion of my work. This also helps water soluble marks from smearing as you’re not using a brush that might activate them.
I wonder how a small foam paint roller would go. It would apply less scrubbing pressure than a brush and the soft foam would get down into the grain of the canvas.
Instead of using plastic to help seal marks, I’d think you can use a gel plate …I’ve used it to seal pastel or pencil work on paper successfully with matte gel medium spread thinly onto the plate with a braver, then transferred quickly to and then lifted from the surface.( your work is quite lovely,btw!)
Thank you for this excellent video. I had not thought of putting the gloss medium or clear gesson on by first spreading it on to plastic and then pressing it over the water soluble marks. I will try this !!! I have only recently found your RU-vid channel and I am really enjoying your videos. I will go back and watch a lot more of them from the beginning....
Hello! I’m so glad I found you. I too create mixed media pieces and your tips are so helpful. Many thanks. I love your work it’s truly beautiful and inspiring ❤️
I use Liquitex gloss medium/varnish, thin it a bit with water and use a soft/fine brush, three thin coats in alternating directions. Seems to work well though I haven't used water soluble pencils, mostly just oil pastel.
I’m painting with acrylic paints on a pencil bag made of recycled signs and I don’t want it to get smudged off in my backpack or smth someone pls reply quick school is tomorrow for me 😬
Love your beautiful work!! Have you ever used spray fixatives to fix marks before varnish? I've seen other artists recommend this, just wondering how it does on paper. Thanks!
I've done this on paper in the past, and it does indeed work very well. I no longer use it because it produces so much overspray (and the fumes, of course) and so I don't want to do it in my studio. Last time I used it, I took it outside, but then it was hard to control because even the smallest breeze wants to blow the spray around and leave bits of dust on the work. It's definitely a good product, and it does work as advertised-it's just that it can be difficult to manage. I'd use it all the time if I had a place to set up a proper spray booth with adequate ventilation. So now instead I just carefully brush over the water soluble parts of work in a way similar to the way Marie Louise shows in this video. Her plastic bag trick with the gloss medium is going to be really helpful for me going forward. Hope that helps some!
I've seen people placing their work in a cardboard box that's fairly deep. That allows them to take it outside and still spray from around a foot away without the wind carrying off 90% of your expensive fixative! It's really stinky though so I'd wear a mask or cover your face.
Not a reply! I posted before I had finished the comment. > to add a mark or a shape to indicate the location. An example could be a castle, a church or any structure.
Not a reply! I posted before I had finished the comment. > to add a mark or a shape to indicate the location. An example could be a castle, a church or any structure.
You can use it as a temporary sealant yes, no problem - but I'm not quite sure that how it would hold up in the long run. It might get tarnishes or get yellowish over time. So if you're planning to sell the work or keep it for a long time I would finish the work with a proper varnish once it's done. Happy painting 🌻
Yes you could Kamar varnish as a final varnish. It is oil based so you should not use acrylics on top of it but as a final coat to protect the work it should work fine :)
