Mount Your Watercolor to a Panel: Part 2 - Finishing Your Painting
Watch the quick overview video:
Supplies
Your dried painting attached to a panel (catch that tutorial here).
Dorland’s Wax Medium - this stuff is magic - it deepens your colors and provides a nice satin finish
Fine-grain sandpaper
X-acto knife - use a nice sharp blade
Paper towels
Disposable gloves (I like to use latex)
Command Picture Hanging Strips or supplies for your preferred hanging method
Optional: Spray varnish (like Golden Brand in a satin finish) - I used to spray varnish my finished paintings before waxing them, but I don’t anymore. I find it’s not worth the time and sacrifice to the environment and my health. Spray varnish will keep your watercolors from fading, but keeping them out of direct sunlight will do that too, so I skip it.
Steps
Once your paneled watercolor has had at least two days to dry underneath weights, remove the weights and gently lift your watercolor off it’s drying surface. I dry mine on blank watercolor paper, and sometimes the edges stick a tiny bit, but it’s never been an issue.
Use your X-acto knife to trim any excess paper and gel from the sides of your painting.
Sand the edges smooth. You can also sand the edges of the paper itself to get it nice and finished-looking.
Wipe the front and sides clean of any sanding dust.
Use your fingers to apply the wax medium to the entire surface and sides of your painting. I like to wear a disposable latex glove for this part, but it’s pretty benign stuff so don’t worry too much.
Err on the side of more wax than not enough. Try to get it smooth and even. After you finish, check the surface for little bits of dust that show up, remove them with your finger, then smooth the wax over those areas.
Let your waxed painting dry for 1-2 days. Keep it away from your cats and dusty areas.
Now your painting is ready to hang! You can plop it in a floater frame, use hanging holes if your panel has them, or go easy like me and stick on some Command Picture Hanging Strips.
If you are shipping your art, your panel might have included little corner protectors you can re-use. I also like to put my paintings (once completely dry) into a plastic sleeve before wrapping them up in other shipping supplies.
That’s it! Now you can go paint another one!
Questions? Ideas? - contact me! Lots of my tutorial ideas come straight from other watercolor artists- so please reach out using the contact form here.