Eric Alexander Santoli
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Gamvar Gloss Varnish For Oil Painting Review

4/22/2018

4 Comments

 
  I'm always on the hunt to try new oil painting products and I decided to try out Gamblin's Gamvar gloss varnish.  For anyone new to varnishing: varnish is used after a painting has dried and the artist wants to bring back a richer surface.  It brings back sunken in looking colors and there's many different types of varnish from matte to glossy.  I personally prefer a gloss varnish.  I had previously been using Winsor and Newton's gloss varnish.  
  The first thing I noticed about Gamvar is that it has almost no odor at all.  This is really nice since it's good to varnish paintings indoors with no windows open.  Varnishing outside or with windows open can cause dust and other particles to land on your canvas and set in when the varnish dries.
 The second thing I like about the Gamvar is that the bottle is really easy to open; this might sound like an obvious feature, but Winsor and Newton has bottles with a black safety top that are SO ANNOYING to open and I usually end up breaking the tops off (Get on that W+N).
  The Gamvar is also water-like in it's consistency, I really like this because a little bit of Gamvar spreads across the surface really nicely and goes a long way.  Other varnishes dry really quickly and get sticky and tacky almost instantly.
  I'm still waiting for the first coat of Gamvar to dry to see if I need another coat.  The images below show some progress shots as I used the Gamvar on some recent and older paintings.  I'm going to see how the Gamvar dries and might apply a second coat after 24 hours.
UPDATE:  After the first coat dried, the gloss lost a little shine so I decided to add a second coat.  The first coat dried after 24 hours so I applied another thin coat and now it looks great.
4 Comments
Torjay Valter link
12/26/2018 03:10:16 pm

Welcome Eric! These are good pictures. I would recommend as few blacks as possible! Solve it in color - like impressionists. Greetings: Valter from Hungary

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Eric
12/28/2018 11:59:54 am

Thanks Valtar, Happy New Year

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JUDI link
2/13/2023 02:56:32 pm

I am not happy with my varnishing job on my 8 ' canvas. It dries waaaay too fast. My question is: can you use one or 2 coats of Gamvar satin varnish over the top of 3 coats of glossy Liquidex varnish product???. It is very streaky, no matter how many coats I apply. It looked much better before I put on any varnish.

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Eric link
2/14/2023 10:06:02 am

Hi Judi, A variety of factors affect the drying time of varnish: ambient temperature, humidity, canvas type and the amount of varnish you apply all plays a role. I personally don't like the Gamvar satin varnish and I would avoid applying more than 2 coats of any varnish. I would also avoid mixing products. Always make sure you leave a canvas for at least 6 months to dry before applying a varnish.

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  • HOME
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