What varnish can I use to finish a poster paint mural area approx. 6' x 6'... any help urgently required!

Most artists rarely use true varnish these days (real varnish yellows over time) and instead use either an acrylic based varnish called karmar or simply use a clear coat acrylic as their protective coatings. These you can apply as either a spray or you can buy a clear coat solid that you apply with a brush.





The most popular brand on the market is Krylon. But there are others available. All art supply stores carry these coatings for sale.What varnish can I use to finish a poster paint mural area approx. 6' x 6'... any help urgently required!
You must first paint it with PVA . Then I would use an acrylic clear varnish. Matt or Gloss as requires. Alternatively a fixative spray from an art shop followed by acrylic varnish.What varnish can I use to finish a poster paint mural area approx. 6' x 6'... any help urgently required!
I think a clear satin varnish would be ok.
My advice would be not to varnish it at all - poster paints are water based and therefore any 'wet' brushed on finish could/would 'drag' the painted surface ...... unless you use something like a spray gun - such as the painting of fences and decking type .... so a good 2-3 light sprays of hairspray (the extra holds are quite good!) would probably do the job .....


if however you want to make the piece weatherproof - then try the spray gun technique with a 3parts water to one part PVA solution - again 2-3 layers - but you must be very careful that the sprayed layers are light and don't wet the painting ... for the same reasons as I started this advice off with .....


hope this helps!





I'm an art teacher!
My colleague, who is an avid artist herself, suggests applying a thin layer of fixative spray (as per pastels), and then applying a thin layer of watered-down PVA glue - she also says to try this on a small area first!
At UNI being cheap and cheerful we used hairspray to fix our pics.
If it is outside DO NOT use polyurethane varnish, if it is inside, then ok.
I have found that good old common lacquer hair spray does the trick with poster paint (gauche) everytime! Cheap and easy to apply!