Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Storing Paintings


I was asked how I store my paintings. As you may know since I live in NYC and paint in my bedroom this unit is at the foot of my bed so I couldn't get a better vantage point to shoot the picture. It's a great unit. I store my still life items, fabrics. framed paintings and there are three drawers on the bottom where I numerically keep my paintings!!

Thursday, April 9, 2009

How Long Do You Wait Before You Varnish Your Paintings?

Someone emailed this question and I thought I'd share this answer here:
How big are the paintings or rather I should ask how thick did you apply paint?
I use Winsor Newton paint and usually spray a retouch varnish (Kamar) when paint is dry to the touch which is usually three or four days. The reds usually take longer, but no more than 2 or 3 days.
Conservators would probably tell you to wait 6 months. I guess you can respray after that amount of time.... Maybe I should respray all the ones I still have here? I'm sure a conservator would be better equipped to answer but that's what I do. I can't wait to see the colors come back to their origins.