Varnishing Colored Pencil - Part 1

 There are times when I like to mount my colored pencil artwork on a cradled panel or present it in a floater frame as opposed to framing the art under glass. In order to do this I need to varnish the finished piece. Up until now I had been varnishing my colored pencil work with water based Golden UVLS Polymer Varnish. I wrote about my experiements with this particular method in a blog post, link here.

 However, Golden has discontinued the Polymer Varnish and replaced it with a new product (also water based) Golden Waterborne Varnish. I thought I could apply the Waterborne varnish the same way as I did the UVLS Polymer Varnish and found out the hard way both products are completely different. So I have decided to do some experimenting with different methods of varnishing my work.

These are the various products I using in my testing.  I first spray my drawing with a coat of Krylon UV Resistant Clear, let it dry for about 15 minutes and gave it another coat. I always spray my colored pencil as an isolation to fix the color so the color won't move or streak when I apply any kind of varnish. 

First experiment: 

I recently watched a video in which the artist is using gel medium as a varnish over watercolor so I decided to try it over colored pencil. I mixed the Golden Regular Gel Semi Gloss diluted with water, equal parts of each. After the second coat of UV Resistant clear was dry, using a 2" wide flat, soft bristle brush I brushed on a layer of the gel medium mixture carefully going in one direction only. As it dried I noticed  streaking and brush marks in some areas no matter how hard I tried to apply evenly (as indicated above). 

So I contacted Golden company and the customer service person suggested the Golden Open Acrylic Gel or Golden Soft Gel are better options for varnishing as they are both softer bodied and lay down smoother. I also found that using a newer soft brush works much better, the older ones either seem to stiffen up with use. There is good information on using Golden gels here.

Second experiment: 

I tried the same application but using the Liquitex Acrylic Gloss Varnish (after fixing my drawing with the UV Resistant Clear spray). The Liquitex varnish seemed to brush on smoother although I still got a few brush marks no matter how hard I tried not to. It is best to apply the gel in one direction and not go over the top again. I like the way the Liquitex looks after it dries, if I can get this method to work I would use this product. 

Third experiment:

 Using the Krylon Kamar Varnish spray as the final varnish. I fixed my drawings first the same way with 2 coats of the Krylon UV Resistant Clear. The two drawings above were then sprayed with 2 coats of the Kamar Varnish, allowing the first layer to dry (at least 30 minutes) before applying the second. As you can see, the Kamar varnish leaves a textured or mottled effect on my drawings that you can particularly see in the white area on the lobster drawing. It isn't so bad on the leaf drawing in which the entire surface is covered. 

In the next post I will write about my experiments with the Golden Gloss Waterborne Varnish. 

If anyone reading this has any feedback or has tried their own experiments, please contact me as I would like to hear about it. 

Colored Pencil Shell Study on Wood Panel

I drew this colored pencil piece on an 8x10" Blick Studio Wood Panel  with a 7/8" thickness. I like the smooth surface of the wood and it does not have to be sanded or primed to accept colored pencil. I selected three shells with different shapes and colors and decided how to arrange them on the surface. It took a little bit of figuring how I wanted them to look compositionally. 

First I drew the outlines with lead pencil and added some of the details to help me when adding color. I used Caran d'Ache Luminance and Prismacolor colored pencils to create this piece. The wood is soft so a softer pencil works really well on the surface. I was also able to build up layers easily. 

My drawing kind of evolved, I intertwined the shells and later put in a soft background suggesting sand and sky. 

The fixative/varnish is a three-part process. First I spray the drawing with Krylon UV Resistant Clear, two coats letting the first dry for 15 minutes. Secondly I spray the drawing with two coats of Krylon Kamar Varnish letting each dry for about 30 minutes in between. You may stop here and perhaps spray one more coat. I like a glossier finish so I add a third step. that is to apply Golden Polymer Varnish with UVLS. I mix one part varnish with two parts of water to thin the varnish so it can be easily brushed on with a soft bristle brush. I work in one direction when brushing on varnish and let it sit for about two hours until completely dry before adding another layer. The layers are thin and I keep adding additional layers until I like the shine. This drawing probably has about 8 layers of the polymer varnish. 

 

My Latest Pet Portrait

This is Brina, 8x10" in colored pencil on gray Fabriano paper. I worked Brina in Prismacolor, Lyra Rembrandt, Caran d'Arche Luminance and Derwent Artists colored pencils. The reason for all the different brands is because I like the different brown tones that I can't find in just one brand. I also like the variety of softness and hardness of the leads and just the feel of different pencils.

The piece is mounted on white gatorboard with double tack mounting film. I sprayed one good coat of Krylon UV Resistant Clear, then two coates of Krylon Kamar Varnish and about four coats of Golden Polymer Varnish with UVLS applied with a brush. I framed the piece without glass in this nice soft silver frame.

Brina is my brother's family dog who (unfortunately) recently passed away. This portrait was a Christmas gift for the family, a nice remembrance of the family pet.

Coffee? Or Tea?

These are my latest small works in colored pencil. These are four 6x6" Utrecht Artists Wood Panels made of smooth basswood. I don't prime the surface, it will accept colored pencil very well although layers are limited to about three or more if using a very light pressure. My designs are transferred on using the image transfer method which I outlined in this previous blog entry. I use the transfer to skip the drawing step and add colored pencil directly onto the transfer, then I play with the background design for each cup. When I am finished I spray with two good coats of Krylon UV Resistant Clear and then brush on five coats of Golden UVLS Polymer Varnish, letting each coat dry in between. I photographed them together but will display them separately.

These two photos are of an exhibit I went to called Paper-Made at the Jamestown Arts Center, Jamestown, RI. These are two photos of an overall view of the largest gallery. Eighteen regional, national and international artists were selected for this wonderful exhibit of works all made of paper. The curator states the paper art is an emerging global phenomenon and as an artist who works on paper, I am intrigued by the use of papers as a form of 2D and 3D sculpture. This exhibition has given me the inspiration to create another hand made book.

Bandit's Portrait

I just finally finished this little 8x8" pet portrait of my dog, Bandit's face. I had a small piece of this gray flecked paper with a pattern of small lines running vertically which I believe could be Fabriano Ingres. It is a beautifully textured paper to work on and the gray background was perfect for Bandit so I left the paper showing through around him. I then mounted the paper to an 8x8" Ampersand cradled Clayboard and sprayed it with Lascaux Fixativ to preserve it. Next I sprayed three coats of Krylon Kamar Varnish, letting each dry in between. After which, I brushed on at least six coats of Golden UVLS Polymer Varnish so the piece is quite glossy. It is finished in the same manner as the black lab in this previous post.

My dog Bandit has such a great personality, he is very quiet (except when he sees a squirrel or plays with other dogs) and follows me around everywhere. I treat him like a person and he can be very stubborn at times and also spoiled, he is the only child after all. He weighs in at only 10 pounds but thinks he is a big dog in a little dog's body. I bring him to the studio and he will lay on his bed near me while I work. Who could ask for a better best friend? I love him dearly and wanted to capture his personality forever in this drawing.

More Beach Dunes on Wood and Upcoming Colored Pencil 2-Hour Workshop

I've just completed two more colored pencil on wood pieces for my beach dune series. The top piece Beach Grasses is 8x8" and includes image transfer under the colored pencil. I took my photo of the beach grasses, sized it to 8x8" and made it black and white. I put the black and white image into PhotoShop and lightened it quite a bit then used the Dry Brush Filter to manipulate the lights and darks into shapes. I then reverse the image and print it out on my laser printer. I tape the image onto the wood and rub the back of it with a Chartpak colorless blender marker, which smells like crazy so it's better to be around good ventilation. I sometimes need to go back over certain areas more than once and because the image is taped, it's easy to lift and check the progress. When I'm done, I have a good black and white image that I can pencil on top of and because I reversed the image it is now the correct orientation of my photo. This makes it quicker to apply colored pencil, you skip the step of drawing and the grays of the transfer make a nice underpainting.

The second piece Purple Skies is 12x12" and is drawn freehand in pencil before adding the colored pencil. I have varnished both of these pieces with Golden UVLS Polymer Varnish, brushed on 4 coats, letting each coat dry at least a half hour before applying the next.

COLORED PENCIL ON NOTECARDS WORKSHOP
I will be teaching a 2-hour colored pencil class on Friday evening, July 19 from 6-8 p.m. at Hope Gallery in Bristol, RI. The cost is $40 and all materials are included. Students will be creating notecards or postcards in colored pencil. Subject matter is optional, scenery or still life which I will also supply. For more information contact Anita at Hope Gallery (401) 396-9117 or email trez88@aol.com.

Beach Dunes in Colored Pencil

I am working on a series of beach dunes and beach grasses in colored pencil and on cradled wood panels. The grain of the wood is showing through in some areas of the drawings adding texture. I've also left some of the wood showing in the areas of sand, the wood grain and wood surface make a nice addition to these organic types of drawings. Pictured are three, I am working on two additional all in different sizes so I can hang them together as a grouping. I'm also trying out adding lots of colors that aren't in my reference photos such as red and pink skies

I am varnishing the wood with several coats of Golden UVLS Polymer Varnish brushed on. I let each coat dry approximately 30 minutes before adding another layer of varnish.

I have work in a colored pencil exhibit titled "the Magic of Colored Pencil" on display through the month of June at Spring Bull Gallery, Bellevue Avenue, Newport, RI. Our New England Chapter of CPSA is sponsoring this exhibit which has many beautiful pieces of colored pencil artwork. I am pictured with my piece "Woman in the Window" (difficult to see because of the glare) which I am honored to say, won Best in Show in the exhibit.

New Grouping of Boxes

Started another grouping of my Ocean Life boxes on 5x5" Ampersand Claybord boxes. I have sold several of the last series of boxes and decided to create another series of boxes. Shown here are seven new cover drawings and three new inside drawings. All of the cover drawings are worked on white Stonehenge paper with image transfer and colored pencil. I adhere them to the Claybord surface of the box top with Grafix Double Tack Mounting Film. I like the bottom drawings to be sturdier so I use white Strathmore rag illustration board, again with image transfer and colored pencil and glue them onto the bottom. The box top drawings are sprayed with one coat of Krylon UV Resistant Clear, three coats of Krylon Kamar Varnish and then several layers of Golden Polymer Varnish with UVLS to make them smooth and glossy.

In the last series I left the natural wood box sides showing and varnished them for protection. In this series I've decided to experiment with painting the wooden sides or collaging some of the box sides with rice paper. I'll explain that in my next post about the boxes.

CPSA Silent Auction Piece

This is the colored pencil drawing titled "Flying Away" that I created for the CPSA silent auction which is held during the annual exhibition and convention August 1-4, 2012 in Covington, KY. I worked the drawing on felt gray Canson Mi Tientes paper, although it probably didn't matter what color I used because I covered every little bit with pencil. I used the Icarus Board to help me blend and layer the intense color. I love bright colors and so my blues and greens got quite a work out on this piece. When finished, I mounted it on 8x10" 3/4"-cradled clayboard with archival double tack film. I decided to leave the edges natural wood so I stained them and am varnishing the piece with Golden UVLS polymer varnish to preserve the bright colors.

Experiments with Colored Pencil and Varnish

This photo is a cropped portion of a 12x16" colored pencil and pastel drawing I did several years ago. In fact it was accepted into and shown at the 2007 CPSA Explore This! Exhibition in Brea, CA (before Explore This! exhibitions became on-line only). I did the drawing is on black Stonehenge paper with colored pencil and bumped up the vibrant colors with pastel on top. The drawing looked so vibrant until I put it under glass to frame the piece. It made the rounds to different exhibitions but never sold so it came back to my studio and hung for a few more years. If it was light in the studio, the piece looked very vibrant but if it was a dark day, it looked dull. I kept glancing at the piece and wondering if I could somehow varnish it so that it wouldn't need to be shown under glass but I was afraid to varnish paper. After reading and learning about Ester Roi's blog entries on glassless framing, I came up with an idea. What did I have to lose? Just a piece of artwork ... but it was worth a try.

First I unframed the piece and adhered just the drawing to a 12x16" Ampersand Claybord with Grafix double tack mounting film adhesive. Next I sealed the drawing with Lascaux UV Protect spray, let it dry and then sprayed two coats of Krylon Kamar Varnish to seal and protect the drawing. I thought the spray might darken the colors but they were vibrant enough and remained so. The drawing sat for 24 hours and next I brushed on several coats of Golden UVLS Polymer Varnish Gloss letting each one dry in between. Here came the problem; I wasn't careful enough when brushing on the varnish, not only was I getting tiny air bubbles but I was getting brush marks. I tried to smooth out one "gloppy" area after the varnish had begun to dry and thus ended up with brush marks. Because the surface is so glossy, if I held the piece to the light, one could see all the imperfections. I learned that you have to be very, very careful when applying the Golden UVLS Polymer Varnish, any imperfection on the surface can be easily seen and detracts from the artwork.

I remembered that when I called Golden company tech support, the person I spoke to told me to be sure the artwork was sealed and protected with a spray varnish before brushing on the polymer varnish. The polymer varnish is water based and he told me that for conservation purposes, if museum quality artwork needed to be cleaned and re-preserved years from now, the polymer varnish could be easily washed off, the piece cleaned and preserved as the layer of spray varnish would not wash off and preserve it.

I was very frustrated with my piece so I took it to the sink and proceeded to wash off all the layers of the polymer varnish, holding my breath and just hoping I wouldn't damage the artwork. All of the polymer varnish washed off but the piece looked wet and cloudy for about a day. I was worried and discouraged I might have ruined it but was pleasantly surprised when I came back to the studio two days later and found the drawing perfectly dry, looking like it had before I started. The double tack mounting film kept the drawing perfectly adhered to the claybord also. I was really happy! I began again brushing on coats of the polymer varnish, much more carefully this time. I made sure I diluted the varnish exactly two parts varnish to one part water and let each coat dry before I applied the next. I didn't count how many coats I applied but I think probably about 6 or 8. I'm very excited because I accomplished what I set out to do, with a little bump in the road in which I learned from. I'm ordering a frame and will exhibit the piece in my studio or in a gallery and will most interested in viewers' comments.

Learning from Mistakes

My finished piece measures 7x8" and looks lovely in the frame with a smooth, glossy coat of varnish over the artwork it doesn't even look like colored pencil.
My piece in progress, working on Ampersand Gessobord with Terra Cotta Colourfix primer applied, I began working the piece with a thin underpainting of Caran d'Arche Neocolors and water with colored pencil on top. Read below about all my mistakes and how to apply the varnish correctly.

I think I should have titled this post "What Not To Do" because it's what just I've learned. As I've written about in past blog entries, I have been experimenting with different ways of presenting my colored pencil work so that it is varnished and not under glass. I have been admiring Ester Roi's work and her process of glassless framing explained on her blog. Ester uses Golden Polymer varnish with UVLS - Gloss to finish and present her work and I decided to try her method. I read Ester's blog entry a little too quickly and then read the label on the jar of Golden Polymer a little too quickly also, I mixed up the proportions. You mix 2 or 3 parts of the Golden Polymer with 1 part water and I did just the opposite, puzzled by the water-thin varnish and why it was taking 10+ coats to get a nice varnish. My second problem was puddling in areas and my third problem was lots of air bubbles.

In the photo above of my pears which began as an 8x8" piece, I laid the artwork sideways in order to show the problem spot right at the top and center. As I applied the varnish incorrectly, it puddled and left an uneven area which I attempted brush smooth after it had partially dried. However, I hadn't properly sealed the drawing so the pencil smeared when I tried to re-brush the area. Later when it was dry, I attempted to sand the area with a fine sandpaper which only left scratches that I couldn't get rid of (I think you can see them). Frustrated, I called Golden and explained to the representative everything I had done wrong. He sounded mortified and flustered and referred me to the Golden website and the technical information for the product and how to use it correctly.

I learned quite a bit from my flustered Golden rep! First of all, the artwork should be completely sealed with several coats of a non-removable clear, oil based varnish before the Golden Polymer varnish is applied. Part of the reasoning for this is because the Golden varnish is water based and can be completely removed if need be. He also suggested colored pencil use gloss varnish as opposed to matte varnish because matte varnish is porous and provides less UV protection. The rep recommended thinning the varnish with 25% water but I am still experimenting with the percentages as I find if the varnish is too thick, it can be streaky. All in all, I cut off an inch of the pear drawing containing the damaged part and I ended up with a nice, glossy finish on the piece (above).

I'm still having a little trouble getting rid of tiny air bubbles, if anyone has any suggestions please comment. I find varnishing small work is easier to learn on than large work. I recently took one of my older colored pencil drawings on paper, mounted it to Ampersand Clayboard and varnished it in this manner. However, I wasn't careful enough and found a brush hair and some air bubbles on the surface after it had dried. So I took this experimental piece to the sink and was able to wash off the entire layer of Golden Polymer Varnish, let it dry and begin again. Because I had the good coating of oil-based varnish on the drawing, the drawing itself wasn't harmed. I will post it at a later date.

The conclusion: take time to varnish correctly, read all directions, don't rush and be careful!

Blue Bottle & Cherries

Here is the finished 11x14" piece, Derwent Inktense and Prismacolor colored pencil on wood. After I finished the drawing, I sprayed it with Lascaux twice and then varnished with Golden Polymer Varnish with UVLS - gloss which I diluted 3 parts to one part water and brushed on with a large, soft, flat, bristle brush. I learned using the UVLS from Ester Roi's blog entry glassless framing and also by talking with her. The result is a beautiful glossy finish which intensified the colors of the pencils.