How to paint dry. Second session

As an artist, everyone should know how to finish dry painting. It doesn’t matter whether you paint pictures in one session or you didn’t have enough time to finish picture in one evening, or maybe you want to glaze the picture. In any case, after the picture has dried, it should be prepared for finishing with dry paint.

Video how to paint when the paint is dry (in russian)

What does it take to paint a dry picture?

Not so much, these art materials are always ready at hand:

• thinner;
• retouch varnish
• linseed oil;

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Second session in oil painting

I will tell you how to paint a dry picture in two ways.

In both cases, before starting the “second session” of painting, clean the picture from grease, dust and other things that could cling to it from the air.

Degreasing the picture is very simple and very important, otherwise the paint will collect in the droplets in the application field and “flake” from the bottom layer. To clean the picture, apply a quick-drying thinner to it and wipe the entire picture or area to be finished (if picture is large).

Important: if at this stage the paint begins to smear under the action of a thinner, then leave the picture to dry.

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After the picture is cleaned, you can start painting it.

How to paint dry with retouch varnish?

It is very easy. Cover the area of the picture to be finished with retouch varnish and immediately begin to paint. Artistic retouch varnish dries in 30 minutes and during this time you need to paint a section that was planned. Therefore, the whole picture is rarely varnished completely, mostly in parts.

What does this coverage give? Retouch varnish provides strength and good bonding of the layers of paint among themselves.

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How to paint dry with linseed oil?

The second option, which artists also often use, is to use oil instead of varnish. As well as varnish, oil is applied to the cleaned picture with a thin layer, the oil dries much longer than the varnish and several days you can safely work with it. The oil mixes well with a layer of paint and when dried, sticks layers well, but obviously not as much as varnish. Therefore, if you finish the picture by pastose, then the varnish will be more reliable.

Important: apply oil in a thin layer, you can even rub (but not wipe it off) with a cloth so that its layer is very thin. If there is a lot of oil, then when working on a picture, it can begin to collect in drops and create small streaks.

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The second, third or subsequent session in painting often allows you to do the work that you were unable to do during the first stage, it is also better to paint the picture and the smallest details when the lower layer of paint in the picture does not affect the upper.

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As often happens in oil painting, you can get something in between by mixing the two components of retouch varnish plus linseed oil in a one to one proportion. This will give longer drying of the varnish and better adhesion between the layers than pure oil.

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Is it possible to paint a picture in the second session using only thinner?

This is what novice artists often do, and of course it will work, but more experienced artists also take care of the “longevity” of their picture, therefore they strive to stick the layers of the picture together.

It doesn’t matter whether it is the second or tenth session in the painting – preparation is the same.

First of all, let’s decide, the picture is considered dry only if it has dried out for at least a week, or even more (depending on the time of the year and the indoor climate), the paint is completely dry to the touch and does not even stick.