What should I use to make my painting shiny again?

In our Facebook Group, the question comes up a lot about the best way to bring shine and a nice glossy finish back to the dried paintings. Acrylic paints can dry rather dull and darker than when wet, but adding back a glossy finish and brightening up those colors again is easy!

WHY 'PROTECT' YOUR PAINTINGS?

  1. Cleaning. A protective top coat on your paints can keep off dust and other dirt or marks that could build up over time and discolor the painting. It would also protect it from splashes and create a water-resistant finish. That doesn't mean you should rinse off your painting under the tap if it's dusty, but a wipe with a lightly damp cloth shouldn't do any harm.
  2. Colors and shine. Acrylic paints can dry rather matte and dull and often look a bit disappointing when compared to how they shine when they are wet. By adding a glossy coat on top of the dry painting, you can really make those colors shine again, and it helps to brighten them up – like a wet-look again.
  3. Smooth finish. If your painting dries with a few pinholes or more texture in the paint than you would like, you can usually smooth out the surface by using a self-levelling protective finish. The more layers you add, the less any unwanted little bumps or textures will be noticeable.

WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A PROTECTIVE FINISH AND A VARNISH?

You may have heard varnish used as a generic term for any finish, but traditional varnish describes an older form of finish that contains alkyd resin, oil, and solvents. When applied to surfaces indoors or out, varnish cures into a thin and glossy film with a faint yellow or amber tint, similar to the finish achieved with oil-based polyurethane.

So although we might talk about 'varnishing' our paintings to protect them, we aren't actually using a real varnish to do that. A varnish would be oil based and typically has a slightly yellow tint – not good for our paintings!

A typical varnishing session with Polycrylic.

WHAT MAKES A GOOD PROTECTIVE FINISH FOR YOUR ART?

You will be looking for something that has these features in order to top-coat an acrylic painting:

  • Water-based (not oil based), with easy soap and water clean-up for your brushes
  • Non-yellowing
  • Glossy finish (or matte if you prefer)
  • Self-levelling
  • Doesn't show brush strokes

WHY I LOVE THE MINWAX POLYCRYLIC PROTECTIVE FINISH

The Polycrylic protective finish checks all the boxes for me when it comes to protecting my artworks. It's easy to use, you can really put it on nice and thick and there are never any brush strokes. It self-levels so it spreads and smooths out a little like a resin. It's glossy, and it's not too expensive. I can easily wash out my brush after and it never hardens.

There were questions raised in the Facebook group about whether it would yellow so I wrote to MinWax and asked them all about it, and which of their product range would be best for protecting acrylic paintings. They said:

"the only products we offer that will be suitable for use over paint would be the Polycrylic or the Water-Based Helmsman Spar Urethane. Neither of these coatings will amber over time, which is typical with other polyurethane type products. To apply this product, however, you will need to allow the paint to fully cure (at least 30 days) first. This will prevent the solvents in our products from reacting with those still remaining in a still-curing paint coating, avoiding the color running, discoloring or hazing. Apply your clear finish per label directions. You should have pleasing results for your project. "

That was interesting advice about allowing the acrylic paint to fully cure before applying the top coat and I think that would be good advice to follow whatever top coat you decide to use. I usually leave it about 10 days and so far (fingers crossed) I've never had any issues with this finish.

The Polycrylic comes in matte, satin, semi-gloss and gloss. You can get it in a spray can (which I've never tried) or in various different sized cans. Recoating time is 2 hours and it's fully dry in 24hrs. So if you are looking for a nice glossy and easy to use finish for your paintings, give Polycrylic a try. You can get it here:

AMAZON USA

AMAZON CANADA

AMAZON UK

I will be testing out other finishing and varnishing products in the future (including spray finishes) and will report back on the website and in our group about my findings.