Calling all artists i need help with something please take a chance and look at my Q?

so i am going to art classes i just finished the drawing book really quickly and now im in charcoil and i can remember when i made like a tone chart my art teacher took hair spray and sprayed it ... so while i was at home i created a really cute lady and the tramp watercolor painting and i waited like a day i thought it was dry it was but i mean like when i touched it the paint smeared ..... is their anything i can do so the paint wont smear when i touch the painting ??? should i spray it with hairspray????? PLEASE answer i need help on this

Calling all artists i need help with something please take a chance and look at my Q?

Especially if your gonna use charcoal always spray it after your finished. Cause no matter how long your drawing sits there, charcoal will break apart from anything; so spray it with hairspray, it's not to sticky but it will hold the charcoal together.

Calling all artists i need help with something please take a chance and look at my Q?

It is al;ways good to use some kind of spray fixative for drawings and watercolors. Even hairspray will work

Calling all artists i need help with something please take a chance and look at my Q?

While fixative is fine for charcoal or pastel, you should never spray anything (especially NOT hairspray!) over a watercolour painting. Btw, hairspray is not the best choice for charcoal %26amp; pastels either, as many of them have too much water in them, and also will yellow over time

It sounds like you may be applying the watercolour paint too thickly - transparent watercolour should be dry within a day since it's mostly water, but if it's painted straight out of the tube, it could take many days to fully dry. That's not how it's intended to be used. If you like thick paint, maybe switch to acrylics!

Just leave the painting out for a few more days without touching it - it should be fine.

Calling all artists i need help with something please take a chance and look at my Q?

I did a charcoal collage for school, and it never got sprayed. It ended up smearing and even the blackest parts were lighter and faded. I definitely recommend spraying. Ask someone at your local arts and crafts store for the best sprays for different types of mediums.

Calling all artists i need help with something please take a chance and look at my Q?

hairsprays and the like are good for charcoal and things that smudge. But watercolors should stay if you let them dry. I'd say you just touched it too soon.

Calling all artists i need help with something please take a chance and look at my Q?

In Joyfulpaints' post up there, there was the suspicion that your paint application may have been a bit think; and required more time to dry. I was thinking that same thing. If it is applied too thick, the slightest bend of your support (paper?) may cause the thick areas to crack. Think of water colors, used more for thin "washes" of color, rather than that thickness you are used to seeing with oil paints, or acrylics.

If you want to protect your watercolor piece (when you are sure it is dry), you can spray on a fixative that is specifically made for watercolors. Ampersand's Clayboard fixative is one, and Krylon UV-resistant Clear Coating. However, as with most fixatives, it is very important that your work is completely dry, before using them. If you have an art or hobby store neaby (Michaels, Hobby Lobby), they usually have this stuff.

Calling all artists i need help with something please take a chance and look at my Q?

use krlylon fixative

Anthony Pittarelli

Calling all artists i need help with something please take a chance and look at my Q?

Forget the hairspray or any other kind of fixative. Go get a hairdryer and use it to dry the painting. I have used a hairdryer on watercolor many times to speed up the drying---although I'm usually trying to dry the PAPER, not the paint!

Use the low speed and keep the dryer moving. If it isn't dry in 10-15 minutes, it means you were mistaken about what kind of paint you think you used.

And from your description, I think that is the case. The pigment in watercolor is bound up in something called gum arabic. It is water-soluble. When you squeeze it out onto your palette, it does stay wet for a while, but even large blobs of watercolor paint form a "skin" pretty quickly and are dry to the touch (though they can still be mushy and wet underneath). High humidity will slow the drying, but it certainly won't keep it wet for 24 hours!

I think you've gotten some oil paint mixed in there somehow. If so, it will probably be dry in another day or so (depending on how thickly you applied it). There's nothing you can do but wait.

For future reference, watercolor is mean to be diluted with at least a little water, and applied thinly. You're supposed to see the paper through it. And I don't know where people are getting the idea that a watercolor ever needs to be "fixed". Do not listen to them. You never, never apply anything over a watercolor. ALL of those sprays and varnishes will yellow over time, and most are harmful to the watercolor paper itself.