Hints, Tips & Techniques for Acrylics - Varnishes
Find out what varnishes you can use to protect your paintings.
Varnishing Paintings
Varnishes are used to protect finished paintings from dirt and grease. Picture varnishes should be removable so that paintings can be cleaned when the varnish itself has become dirty. Although modern varnishes for oil colour can be used on acrylics, the removability can be safer with a dedicated acrylic varnish.
We provide three such varnishes for acrylics, one gloss finish, one satin and one matt finish. These can also be mixed by the artist to achieve their preferred level of finish anywhere in between the three types. We also provide a Varnish Remover which enables you to remove acrylic varnishes, allowing your paintings to be cleaned and re-varnished in the future without fear of damage. For more information on these products, see our Acrylic Varnishes section.
Varnishing hobby projects
Furniture, toys and murals which are handled often need a hard finish. This can only be achieved with a non-removable varnish, the most popular of which is polyurethane. The colour of this varnish will slightly deepen the tone of your picture but this cannot be helped.