Part 2 of 4 👇

How do I prevent my paintings from cracking?

If you’ve ever been to a museum you know that paintings can crack over time. Though it’s not gunna impact your work for a while, many painters aren’t taught how to make their work last. So here are the easy ways to make permanent paintings!!

Once you start your painting it’s super important to have patience & let each layer AT LEAST fully touch-dry before adding the next one.

This is easier with acrylics which take a few minutes/hours to touch dry & about 2 weeks to a month to fully cure than it is with oils which take about a few weeks to a month to fully touch dry and an average of 6 months to fully cure.

Dry times depend on lots of factors, thick/impasto paint & slow drying pigments or mediums will take longer which is why underpaintings are typically done with lean, thin layers of fast drying earth colours & underpainting white.

Remember the time it takes to be touch dry vs fully cured is very different & paint can feel dry way before it is done chemically hardening which is why there’s lots of mis-information particularly about acrylic dry times. Even professional artists confuse the time it takes to feel dry with the time it takes to be fully cured.

I see a lot of artists adding additional layers or varnishing too early & this can definitely cause cracking down the line.

I know this sucks & no one likes to hear it but there’s no way easy way to circumvent the drying process between layers if you want to make permanent paintings.

Think of drying of oil paint in 3 stages:

1 UNSMUDGABLE a few days to weeks (depending on colour/medium/thickness) the paint will be dry enough to not smudge/transfer paint.

2 FULLY TOUCH DRY the painting is hardened to the point you can’t leave a mark in the thickest area using a fingernail. At this stage you can add additional layers, use some varnishes like gamvar & exhibit or ship the work.

3 FULLY CURED an average of 6 months - the stage where it’s best practice to varnish.