Varnishing a Watercolour

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Sorry for the short videos of late. I have a bad injury to my right knee (torn MCL and tibial plateau fracture) which means I need to use crutches. That is making painting pretty difficult at the moment (the way I do it in standing). I will be painting again properly very soon!
A quick video looking at the process of varnishing a watercolour. Once I have figured out the very best way to do this I will post a full video. It is good to see how it covers the page and can start that process of thinking about watercolours in a different way. If you can varnish them very well then mount them on a canvas then you can paint very large.
Thanks for watching, any questions let me know.
Cheers
Scott
original watercolours can be found at: www.scottswinson.com
Previous videos on:
Paper: • Watercolor Paper Expla...
Paints: • Watercolour Paints - C...
Brushes: • Watercolor Brushes - T...
Paints in 7 Minutes: • Watercolor Paints in 7...
Paints
Winsor and Newton Artist Quality Tubes:
Cobalt Blue amazon: geni.us/Winsor...
Yellow Ochre amazon: geni.us/Yellow...
Light Red amazon: geni.us/LightR...
Winsor and Newton Cotman Tubes (student quality):
Cobalt Blue amazon: geni.us/cotman...
Light Red amazon: geni.us/cotman...
Yellow Ochre amazon: geni.us/cotman...
Tape
3M Scotch Magic Tape amazon: geni.us/Scotch...
3M Scotch Removable Tape amazon: geni.us/Scotch...
Brushes
Round Sable - Size 12 round kolinsky sable from amazon: geni.us/SAAKol...
Imitation sable - amazon: geni.us/Escoda...
Holbein Hake Brushes: geni.us/Holbei...
Equivalent Hake Brushe 2” amazon: geni.us/Winsor...
Nylon Flat Brush amazon: geni.us/NylonF...
Travel Brush set with covers amazon: geni.us/travel...
Mixing Brushes and other effect brushes amazon: geni.us/HogBri...
If you just want two hogs bristle brushes then the best thing to do is to head to your local art supplies store and buy them there.
Watercolour Paper
Arches 300gsm medium cold pressed pad amazon: geni.us/ArchesPad
Arches 300gsm medium cold pressed block which is glued on the outside so you don’t have to stick it down on a board amazon: geni.us/Arches...
Rives BFK etching paper. Probably best to source this from your local store so you can look after the paper and not have it posted unless you are buying a large amount of paper and it will be looked after. There is nothing worse than getting hundreds of sheets all with a indent in them. Having said that you can actually source this paper from amazon:
geni.us/RivesBFK
Some people have been extremely happy with the state of the paper when it arrived (and some not!)
I love this paper it is soft and lights are lifted easily from it.
Equipment Used to Film Each Episode
Camera - Canon 6d mark II with 24-105 lens amazon: geni.us/Canon6...
Iphone 11: geni.us/iphone...
Rode Video Mic Pro amazon: geni.us/RodeVi...
I also use: Rode Wireless Go Mic: geni.us/rodewi...
Aputure LED Lights from amazon: geni.us/apurtu...
Aputure LED Lights with stand from amazon: geni.us/aputur...
Mac Book Pro for editing: www.apple.com/
Friction arms
Manfrotto friction arm short one amazon: geni.us/Manfro...
Manfrotto magic arm longer one so my camera can be closer to the page from my overhead rig amazon: geni.us/manfro...
Neewer Friction arms cheaper than manfrotto and good for lighter things like lights from amazon: geni.us/neewer...
Hard Drive for storage WD 4TB amazon: geni.us/WDHard...
Hard Drive for projects Samsung T5 500GB SSD amazon: geni.us/Samsun...
Manfrotto Tripod and Video Head amazon: geni.us/Manfro...
Photo Editing - Affinity Photo: geni.us/Affini...
I use this for any photo editing that I might need to do such as stitching multiple scanned images of my original artwork together. It is a one off expense ($70 at time of writing this) rather than the monthly fee you have to pay with photoshop.
KZbin Thumbnails - Canva - free and easy to use! geni.us/CanvaI...
Video Editing - Final Cut Pro X - geni.us/FinalC...
Reflector 3 software so I can see what is on my iphone screen - geni.us/Reflec...
Galvanised Steel for the overhead rig from bunnings - geni.us/Bunnings

[@carolynnixon7095]

Thanks for the varnishing info, I've been wondering about how it would work. Take care of your injury.

[@ScottSwinson]

Hi Carolyn, I’ll do some more videos as I go through the process. Thanks for watching! It really protects it very well! Thanks for watching! 👍

[@gigiartstudiowithartistvir3919]

I just recently started varnishing my watercolor paintings. My process is I spray on the varnish first, then the next day I wax them with Dorland wax. So far I like the result. Maybe it's overkill but I do not put my watercolors in frames anymore...it's just too costly. I mount all of them on cradle board now.

[@cassk3847]

I was told never use a spray varnish as it can cause the watercolours to crack. But instead use Dorland wax to seal your watercolour if it will not be behind glass and a mat. But as with all art and the multitude of rules who really does know. I paint in watercolour but have not sealed any of mine yet. I was taught to paint botanically and that is where I was directed towards the wax sealing.

[@ScottSwinson]

Hi Cass, thanks for the info! I’m quite new to the whole sealing a watercolour thing and will keep experimenting with products and processes. Good to know about the wax thing! Will have a look into that! 👍