Gloss varnish that resists alcohol?

[Patyrn]

I've been playing around with the trick of putting on a layer of gloss varnish before a wash, and then using alcohol and foam brushes to clean up the wash so flat surfaces don't look dirty. This works great but the alcohol also eats the varnish I use so I have to be very careful not to penetrate through and damage paint I want left alone.

Are there any varnishes I can put over acrylics and that acrylics will stick to that resist alcohol? Will oil-based varnishes work? I've read oil-based varnish yellows with age, is that the case?

 

[Einion]

Polyurethane should do the trick in terms of alcohol resistance, but I don't know that the acrylic paint will adhere to it particularly well I'm afraid.

One of the spirit-soluble varnishes sold for use on paintings these days (both oil and acrylic) are worth considering, since I think none would be sensitive to alcohol - nearly any brand will do, but Soluvar and MSA varnish from Golden are two specific ones to look for if you're in the US.

But the ideal solution might be to alter your working method so you don't need to use the alcohol wipe.

Are there any varnishes I can put over acrylics and that acrylics will stick to that resist alcohol? Will oil-based varnishes work? I've read oil-based varnish yellows with age, is that the case?

Many "oil-based" varnishes aren't really based on oil, it's become a bit of a catch-all for varnishes intended to be used with oil paints. In old terminology oil varnishes were just varnishes that contained oil (in addition to whatever resin formed its basis) and these did indeed discolour badly over time, but varnishes that don't contain any oil can yellow too.

Einion

 

[Kalidane]

I'd put resisting alcohol in the too-hard basket.

Did you see what I did there?