Pat Merewether 05 Jun 2006

I've never sealed my watercolors and never heard of anyone doing so - but maybe some do.

We live quite a ways from any art supply stores and I order most of my stuff on-line from Cheapjoes.com or Daniel Smith - there are quite a few on-line art supply stores - so far Cheap Joes is my favorite. I also find used art supplies on Amazon and Ebay and have never been disappointed.

Your wc's are lookin' good!

jennifer blenkinsopp 05 Jun 2006

You don,t seal watercolours Jacqueline, you need to get them behind glass as soon as possible, or put them in a folder until you get them framed and mounted., There are numorous watercolour papers on the market,so its a matter of choice and what suits you,buy at least 140Ib, I use bockingford(NOT) for portraits and a lot of scenes, and (rough) for snow scenes and seascapes , usally between 200 and 300lb, these will take loads of water and don,t need stretching. hope this helps.

John Houle 05 Jun 2006

Actually I have sealed some watercolors ..

My daughter needed magazine or book cutouts of various animals for a school project and I had no magazines from which I wanted to cut any out of, so I offered to sketch her up the animals that she needed.

I drew them in pencil and painted them in watercolor and knowing every kid in class would run their fingers over them ... I sealed them with my Graphite sealing fixatif.

It worked great and made the colours have a richer more vibrant darker tone giving it an almost wet look even though it was dry ..

I suggest trying a small scrap painting and sealing it to see if you like the effect. I thought it worked wonderfully and it's a good feeling not having to hide your paintings or live in fear that a drop of moisture will get on it and ruin it before you get a chance to frame it up.

Linda Eades Blackburn 05 Jun 2006

I've never heard of sealing a watercolor before. Just cover them until they are under glass as Jennifer said. If you want a smoother look to your watercolors, use a hot pressed papper, but many of theos do need stretching. We used to use a Crescent 300Illustration baord that had some tooth, but was also smooth. Also has nice lifting quality.

http://www.cheapjoes.com http://www.dickblick.com http://www.jerrysartarama.com

A few places I order supplies. When you decide what you want check all three for the best price. Sometimes varies.

Jacqueline Bishop 05 Jun 2006

Thanks everone for all your help. That walmart paper is rooouuughhhhhhhh enough to scrub a pot with.LOL I found a great book on painting snow &water with watercolors at a fram shop it has some great stuff in it, they had some watercolor paper,but i got the last they had, so at least i can practice till i get some more. ZAZ

John Houle 06 Jun 2006

Just because you've never heard of Sealing watercolors does not mean that it's not possible nor doable .. I've done it and it's worked fine. A viewpoint of not allowing yourself to try something new is pretty sad in my opinion.

jennifer blenkinsopp 06 Jun 2006

There is no need to be like that with Linda John she is giving her opinion and expertise of what she has learned, I too have never heard of sealing watercolour, I should of thought this would take the translucency away, which is what watercolour is all about,-------- goache on the other hand is a opaque watercolour then I would say yes go for it, as there is nothing to lose with it.

Marty Yokawonis 06 Jun 2006

I am a watercolor painter and have sealed my paintings with

acylic matt medium

gamblin cold wax medium

the acrylic matt medium or even the gloss medium work well because it can fix a layer of paint so you can paint over it without lifting the under layers. Most watercolorists have used medium to help with glazing layers. Dean Mitchell always adds acrylic medium to his water to help with the washes.

Cold wax is well.. wax and it makes an interesting soft glowing finish on the watercolor paper. By the way watercolor paper is 100 % cotton and comes in three finishes hotpress, coldpress (the most used) and rough.

Jacqueline Bishop 06 Jun 2006

wow , thats alot of info, but what is waxing & if it's wax how can you paint it& if you seal a painting how can you still pint it! i know it may be some dumb questions but i don't know all the watercolor lingo so mabe you don't mean literally waxing the paper.I guess that must be rough paper i had painted some of my first watercolor cause it was rough for sure. thank s for more info. ZAZ

John Houle 06 Jun 2006

For your information Jennifer I'm allowed to give my opinion as well as much as the next person ...

At least I never told Jacqueline to do one thing or another ... I merely stated that she has an option and as you can see another artist posted that they too seal them ...

The choice is up to her and telling her not to seal them is narrow minded and most likely because Linda never tried it ...

It can be done and there's no rule stating that you're not allowed so you have no reason to tell me how I should talk or what I should say ...

Seal it or not .. it's Jacqueline's decision. Just because neither you nor Linda have heard of it nor tried it is no reason to tell me I can't give my opinion.

Linda Eades Blackburn 06 Jun 2006

John, I didn't mean to push your buttons. I ahve never heard of sealing a watercolor...that's all. I did try once, stupidly to BRUSH an acrylic medium over a watercolor that I had work very hard on.. and it dissappeared before my eyes. A muddy mess. I'm sure that you can do all sorts of things with Watercolors that I have never tried before, or heard of. I can only speak of my own experoences and that is what I have done. Certainly didn't mean to step on toes, that was not my intention. Don't understand why you took it that way. I can't and won't recomend anything that I don't have experience. I actually think experimentation in all areas of art is fun and would do lots of it if i had the time. Trust me... I would try it all.

Interesting stuff Marty

Thanks Jennifer, but my old feathers are not that easily ruffeled.

John Houle 07 Jun 2006

You didn't ruffle my Feathers Linda I was just saying to Jacqueline in my post that not trying something is just because you've never tried it in my opinion was self limiting and no artist should be that way.

It was Jennifer that chastised me for no reason and that's what ruffled my feathers. I have no gripes with either of you, but I'm not planning on sitting idly by to have someone tell me how to talk when I was merely giving Jacqueline my opinion.

I can understand how trying to brush something over a watercolour painting would ruin it. So I'll clarify what I've done ... It's a spray can of fixatif ... I always use a reworkable fixafif for my graphite drawings and I'm presuming Linda that you most likely seal your marvelous Pastel drawings in a simular way ? That same fixatif works great on watercolours when sprayed on evening and lightly. It does bring the colours out more making them richer and more vibrant. I really suggest trying it on a small scrap painting to see the results.

No offence meant towards you Linda. I was only trying to point out to a enquiring artist that wanted to know if it were posible that it was and can be done to great effect.

Linda Eades Blackburn 07 Jun 2006

The original post

should i seal my watercolors paintings with something when i am finished with them? i am teaching my self how to paint with them & i did not know if you were suppose to or not.

Answer

Traditionally speaking No. If using professional grade materials it is not necessary to seal watercolors, but they do need to be under glass and kept away from damp conditions. The bathroom is not the best place to hand a watercolor because of the steam, you get my drift.

Otherwise, try everything and have fun.

jennifer blenkinsopp 07 Jun 2006

A viewpoint of not allowing yourself to try something new is pretty sad in my opinion.

This is what I got annoyed with John,------------ I have looked at your portfolio,--------- very impressive,----- two of your images stand out to me where you might have used fixative which is vigilance and emerald sun, am I correct? ,----------- I have been a member of a watercolour society for the past 16years, we get watercolourists from all around the country demostrating thier techniques and have never heard or seen it done.

Marty you too have a selection of beautiful watercolours, Abby and gloria which you have in your portfolio, surely this is not fixed?------------- Annabelle another one of my favourites, and the red pear?-------- this is very rich in colour, is this fixed?

Margaret Platt 07 Jun 2006

Okay I have heard all the arguemens for sealing or not sealing..but what is the question???The why you don't seal them is for the archival quality of the work. Sealers all have an acidic base, much like a glue that will eventually etch and leach the colors into an unnatural state.If you want them to last over the long haul, I highly recommend you do not use any sealer of any kind on them. Now if someone were to come up with a sealer or fixative that was acid free, nuetral Ph balanced, that might be worth a try on a simple non-important piece. It's the same reason the only archival plexi can be used instead of glass with watercolors, mis-directed light waves can ruin your work over time.

Pat Merewether 07 Jun 2006

I'm also wondering why a person would seal watercolors - it's an honest question - not an attack - really - I want to know.

Jacqueline Bishop 08 Jun 2006

thanks for all of your input,i will not seal it, i just did not know if it was done or not. ZAZ

John Houle 09 Jun 2006

haha .... Well I'm actually glad that we can all have a decent discusion without getting too out of hand.

Now let's see .... Jennifer my dear lady ... nice try at guessing ... unfortunately you're wrong. I didn't have any sealed watercolors on my portfolio .... until today. After reading your comment and Margaret's yesterday I needed to go home and paint something up to show you girls.

Now the painting was rather simple but I only wanted to prove a point with it.

I layed in washes and sprinkled salt to create a bit of blooming and dryed it quickly with a hair dryer after every refinement. I had no time to stretch the paper and let it dry so the dryer works in a pinch when I'm impatient and want to try to stop the paper from buckling.

Then after I was done I took it outside and sprayed it with Fixatif ... a fixatif that IS ACID-FREE and ARCHIVAL-SAFE .... So Margaret ... someone has already thought of it. Cool huh ? A long step up from the old days of when people sealed drawings with hairspray that wasn't safe and did yellow over not that many years.

The first paintings that I sealed were for my daughter for a school project and I came upon it as a solution for having a gang of 3rd graders touching then with gruggy fingers or even wet fingers. It worked great. Now some of you say why ? Just frame them under glass .. well even under glass things can happen to them. and any moisture on the paint can ruin it and any mildew cannot be removed. The sealer solves that problem totally ... and trust me ... accidents do happen ... whether you want them to or not.

Be traditional ... be set in the ways of the past .. it's certainly your choice, but I'm sure that you are all driving around in cars and not being pulled around by horse and buggys.

Don't be afraid to try new things and things that work that are proven by those that dare to pave new roads and paths into new and untried techniques.

I guess what I'm saying is .. keep an open mind before telling someone to not do a certain thing if you've never tried the technique yourself. I can understand if you've tried it like Linda did with a brush on sealer ... instant disaster and fear from ever trying it again, but the spray on sealer does work.

Like I said ... try it someday .. you'll be suprised at how easy it works to protect your painting from any chance of small liquid based accidents.

One more note. I sprayed on the sealer a distance of about 6" from the painting. There was no running or smearing at all and I didn't put it on as thickly as on the sketches for my daughter's class project so there was no colour change nor glossy look to the finish. Just an invisible barier protecting my little painting and peace of mind that it would be a bit safer from mishaps ... and no ... I don't work for Krylon ... haha

Have a nice day folks.

John Houle 09 Jun 2006

Here's the label from the Sealer that I use on all of my Graphite drawings and .... my watercolors as of lately.

jennifer blenkinsopp 09 Jun 2006

Why I mentioned those two in your portfolio John is, they look a lot darker than others, as you stated using fixative turns them darker and richer in colour which these are.I thought you had either used fixative or painted quite a few layers to get the darkness.

I was merely telling Jacqueline what I know, being a watercolourist foremost,---------- I will try this on a watercolour to see for myself though,----and will show you the results of mine in a couple of days.---------------------Having said that I am sure it would benefit to use this on goache, I do my goache paintings on mounting board,---- so these sealed, may not need glass.