Hey you me yeah you i see you just finished your first art painting
how do you know this are you in my head it's okay don't ask questions i just know what you
need i mean i do need to know but this is kind of weird how what i'm gonna show you
how to varnish your first oil painting where it's nice and easy and you nail it every time
wait how did you know that that's kind of creepy no really like how do you know what's going on i'm
super confused right now is there cameras this is like really weird how you always know what i need
hey what is up all you awesome and creative people wild here to make sure you become
bigger and better with your creative adventures by how to's tips tricks tutorials and all that
fun stuff with great hair if you want to help me out you can hit that big red subscribe button down
below and tick that bell so that way you know when my videos go live to help you out now before we
jump right into me showing you how to varnish a painting as a beginner which is going to be a
fast and easy way to where you can't mess it up i need to inform you why you would want to varnish a
painting but before i even do that i want to make sure you know the reasons why you should even try
to varnish a painting and which ones you should varnish for an easy answer you should only varnish
paintings that you plan on keeping yourself or you plan on selling never really varnish
anything that's a practice piece because that's a waste of money because yes some varnish materials
and some coating materials cost a lot of money so you want to make sure you spend your money wisely
on for what's gonna pay off for you so anything that's a practice piece hey don't varnish it but
that doesn't mean a practice piece can't become a finished piece and you can varnish it down the
line when it comes to varnishing any one of your finished pieces there's three main reasons why you
would varnish an art piece and i'm going to break it down into simplified versions so that way you
retain the information reason number one is it's going to add more saturation to your final piece
when you use something like a high gloss or a gloss varnish finish on your painting you're
going to add more saturation brilliance vibrance and it's going to really make those colors pop
also a lot of different manufacturers of paint out there don't always have the best pop they have a
dullness to them and adding a high gloss varnish will give that extra little pop off that canvas
really catching the eye of either you or anybody you're trying to sell your art piece to this
reason alone is why you see so many professional artists use a high gloss varnish because it really
makes their art piece pop reason number two is more for the professional artists out there when
you add a varnish coating on top of your painting it's actually going to even out the entire piece
it's going to give it an even gloss or an even satin or an even matte sheen across your entire
painting again different paint manufacturers have different types of glossy paint or dull
paint or matte paint and when you can varnish an entire piece you're making it even across
the entire painting making it more pleasing to the eye and if you're an artist out there that
likes to use a bunch of different manufacturers of paint or you're a mixed media artist varnishing
your paintings are a must because evening it out is actually going to make it look way better and
reason number three is protecting your painting from environmental effects as well as making it
easier to clean if you need to clean it when you put a varnish coat on top of your painting you're
protecting it from dirt dandruff hairs floating around in the air that could affect it or if
somebody bumps up against it you're giving it that protective coating also if you're putting it in
your house that's in the way of an unprotected window like a screen door or even an open door
sunlight has uv rays in it which actually can damage paints or even turn them into a yellow hue
when you add a varnish coat on top of that you're putting another protective screen coating on top
of your painting making it last longer also you're giving it a nice protective coat in case you gotta
move or handle it with your hands and you're also gonna be protecting it from the oils on your hands
if you have to hang your painting or move it around at any time a varnish coat essentially
is a nice little shield against the paint pigment and canvas alright so now you know the reasons why
you varnish your painting but how do you varnish a painting if you're a beginner out there i really
recommend you go with spray varnishes now there's many different types out there that you can get
into and i i say experiments around pick one that works for you but to start out i would
really recommend going with the windsor newton gloss varnish the reason i recommend this is one
it's really affordable you can find it for under fifteen dollars it's easy to apply it basically
is full proof and it gives you a brilliant beautiful uplift in your colors as well as a
protective coating now when it comes to applying a spray varnish there is a correct technique
and you first need to start off with the room that you're gonna be in if you're gonna use any spray
varnish i recommend having the protective face coverings if you need it if you're very sensitive
to vapors okay also make sure you have windows and doors open if you live like in an apartment so
that way you get good cross ventilation i really recommend if you can do this in a really big room
like your garage provided it's not dirty and free of debris in the air because anything you spray on
any of that loose air like dandruff and dirt that's in there can settle on your painting so you
want a clean environment when it comes to spray varnishing your painting you want to make sure
you have the correct backdrop for you i really recommend just using some amazon boxes that you've
broken down and make them flat against a wall and floor so this way it catches the extra varnish and
doesn't ruin anything for you lay your painting against this cardboard here and lay it either
horizontal or vertical doesn't really matter and remove the cap from the top of your varnish can
now i surprisingly get asked this question all the time how do you remove the cap on the varnish can
uh you squeeze the top with your finger and index and pull straight up i don't know why people have
this issue but there you go before you go full ham on your canvas with your spray varnish you
want to make sure you test the spray can first to make sure that it's not clogged and it's
spraying to a full bloom so you want to make sure there's no dribbles or straight lines because that
can ruin your painting so on your spare piece of cardboard off to the side or that extra big piece
do a nice little spray to check to make sure that the nozzle is clean and also this will allow you
to find out what is the full bloom aka how far and wide the spread will be to where you get a nice
even coating some cans are different some cans are 6 inches away 12 inches away 18 inches away
this will give you a good judge of characters so you know how far and out you have to be
when your can is all good and clean and ready to go we can start spray varnishing our painting
take your can and start your stream off the side of the canvas onto the cardboard
to get a nice constant full bloom stream going and slowly work from the top of the canvas either left
or the right side whichever way is comfortable for you and go across and work your way from the top
to the bottom going all the way off the canvas onto the cardboard this way you ensure you're
getting everything to a nice even coating once you get to the bottom you can work your way back up at
the same pace as you worked down with our painting with our first spray coat on there we're going to
give it a second coat right away and what we do is we take our painting give it a quarter turn and do
the exact same process that we did work from top to bottom going left to right or right to left
and go across the entire canvas giving it a nice even coating the reason you do the quarter turn is
because your painting may have different textures or pits or peaks within the painting and when you
give it this quarter turn you're allowing the spray varnish to kind of fit into these little
nooks and crannies making sure you've got an even coating across it trust me this is a good
tip now when it comes to dry times of your spray varnish there really is no one answer each varnish
manufacturer is a little bit different which is why i recommend checking out the manufacturer's
website some will take 15 to 30 minutes some will take a couple hours it really just depends on how
many coatings you put down and the type of varnish you bought so do that visit the manufacturer's
website because it'll save you a lot of time to get the exact answer you want spray varnishes
are really cool and i really recommend them for beginners and hopefully you gave it a try oh
looking pretty good but still how are you in my head see i told you even you would like it and
you couldn't fail at it now if you want to help me you can use the links in the video description
down below to some varnishes that i have used especially the winsor newton one that we just
showed here in this video i really recommend it out because it's nice and affordable for beginning
painters out there but let's say you don't have any paintings that you can varnish right away
okay got a couple of tutorials over here to the side that i really recommend
you check out especially that wine wednesday one super fun to varnish because all those
bright colors are really gonna pop once it dries so give that one a shot from it and
i will see all of you awesome and creative people later take care and of course peace