Varnishing Day

Yesterday I had Australian visitors to the studio, they had come actually come to see Chris but as he wasn't in I thought they might like to take a look at some of my art work. They took a brief look and the lady remarked that the work was different to work back home. Intrigued I asked in what way. She said they weren't glossy. Which is true, they are not glossy. The reason being is that they are not varnished and the ones that are are varnished are varnished using a matt varnish. To varnish or not to varnish has always been a difficult decision for me to make. I generally don't varnish the work as I always make a complete mess of it. Also oil paintings really do take 6 months to be fully dry, especially in this dam Irish climate. If you varnish a painting before it is fully dry it will eventually begin to crack. As most artist don't have the patience to wait that long they either don't varnish or use some kind of retouching varnish, which is really only a temporary solution. I think most large scale abstracts are never varnished. Many of the paintings that I did over 30 years ago are still fine despite not being varnished . I give the ones hanging in the house an occasional dust and they all seem happy with that. They also all perk up a bit if people look at them once and awhile. The paintings stacked against the studio wall are positively ecstatic if not somewhat hysterical if anyone just gives them a passing glance.
They just want to be loved and in return they will give their owners hopefully immense amounts of satisfaction and pleasure. If requested they will also agree to being varnished !

Click Here for More Information