Watercolors. One of the most finicky and delicate of traditional mediums. You can spend hours, days, even weeks on a single watercolor painting, making it look absolutely gorgeous only to be left with a dilemma: how do you protect it??
Many watercolor artists suggest simply framing your piece once it's dry. And that's a good option, however, it's a co$tly one. Nice frames, even refurbished ones you find at a dollar store (or, more accurately, $1.25 store 😒) or a thrift store, cost a pretty penny. So, while it's a good option for those who can afford it, it's not a suitable option for most artists. Not to mention, nobody wants to bother framing their watercolor sketches or practice works, but we still want to keep them nice and forever. As I've always said, artist is just another word for hoarder 😂. So, how can we seal our watercolor works for cheap? Well, I think I've found a suitable answer!
I liked the idea of using the wax varnishes, but, after searching for local stores to get some (I avoid online shopping, especially Amazon, like Covid-19), I wasn't all too thrilled with the range in costs. I also prefer to keep things simple, basic, and use methods that the Masters used waaaaay back in yonder times. So, I kept searching to see if I couldn't find out exactly how did the watercolor masters seal/protect their works that allowed them to last so long.
There are many traditional mediums that artists have used throughout recorded history all over the globe - that's just a fact. And, even though watercolor art is said to date back to paleolithic European cave paintings (Chaplin, Mike, Painting Expressive Watercolors), and despite "the first mention of the generally accepted modern term "watercolour" [can be] found in Cennino Cennini's "Treatise of Painting" (1437)," (WhiteNights), there actually isn't a whole lot about the legitimate history of watercolors in comparison to, say, oil paints. So, the rabbit hole wasn't as deep as it can be for other research topics.😢 But, I did remember seeing a wax product in the hair care isle at my local Kroger (not a sponsor. Sadly 😂) when I was searching for, and purchased, some coconut hair oil for my acrylic paint pours. Heading to the store I found it: Murray's Beeswax. According to their website (not an affiliate link or sponsor), Murray's "imports the highest available grade of Beeswax from Australia." And the best part? It was less than $5 AND I got gas points when I purchased it in the store. 😎 Made my cheap, artsy heart proud. Next phase: Testing!
To test this old/new method of sealing watercolors, first I needed a face. Browsing Instagram, I found a handsome head shot of the one @Berzinsky. With my model picked, next was the watery tools to be sealed and delivered. Since this was just going to be a small test portrait, I decided to use watercolor markers by Staedtler (not an affiliate link or sponsor). And, always trying to live by the Mixed Media Portrait standard, I also used regular markers by Staedtler and gel pens by Sakura (not an affiliate link or sponsor) because, having used both of these materials on previous projects and knew they had the tendency to smear/run, I wanted to see how they'd react to the wax too.
Once I finished the portrait to my liking, I took a car sham cloth (no chance of static or scraping) and scoop up a dollop of the wax straight from the container. I didn't want to be SUPER liberal with the wax and risk smearing everything out of impatience (not that I would EVER do something like that...), but I did try to make it a thorough and even layer over the entire portrait. Getting as close to an even layer as I could tell (wax is clear apparently), I waited a little to kind of let it settle. Did I need to do this? Probably not. But I wanted to live in denial and I was also worried I mess up this nice little portrait I actually liked! 😂 Less than 10 minuets or so later I sprayed the entire portrait with one of my goto spray sealers, a gloss spray by Mod Podge!
As you can see from the photo above, IT WORKED! The wax didn't smear any of it or wreck the paper itself (I did use mixed media paper for this and not watercolor paper), which I was also mildly worried about happening. Extra benefits to using the wax and mod podge is that neither stink so I'm able to use them inside, and, I was able to wash and reuse the cloth so I wasn't wasting paper towels or possibly wrecking paint brushes! All in all, I definitely like this method in addition to other varnishes. The only drawback is that the wax, as I said, is clear when you apply it so it's pretty easy to miss spots. I did notice this on this test piece because, after the spray had finally dried on the wax, I ran my fingers across the whole piece and could tell a textural difference between wax covered areas and straight paper. So that's the only real drawback I can see so far with this method.
I hope this tip was helpful and inspirational for YOU! If you give it a try, tag me on social media and show me what YOU came up with. And please feel free to let me know YOUR thoughts on this piece. If you would like to challenge me, please check out my Contact Me page, or, if you'd like to purchase one of my works or a work of your own design, check out my Commission page.
Till next time MMP fans!