Grade 10 Art - Day 35 "Treating Your Finished Canvas"

Since acrylics essentially seal themselves, there is really no call to "seal" your painting.  However, some artists like to vanish or clear coat their work for the following reasons:

• some colours dry duller than others
• they want to protect their work from dust, UV, finger oil, cats, etc. 

If you are keen to seal your painting, here are the steps I would follow:

1. Apply a glazing medium to bring up the colour.  
2. Apply two coats varnish. Depending on the effect you are looking for, you can use spray on or brush on varnish.

I recently spoke with a local artist who always coats his finished paintings for effect.  If you use a satin finish, the result will be less glossy and closer to your original application.  However, a shiny application has its own sort of beauty.  For his paintings, he recommended this can: