How to store acrylic painting

• Life Storage: How to Store Paintings Without Ruining Them
• Artwork Archive: How To Store Your Art Collection Like an Expert
• Eden Gallery: How to Store Acrylic Paintings

How to store canvas paper paintings

Reader Question: I’m in the middle of a project to make a painting for every page of Frankenstein. Each painting is acrylic on canvas paper, only 9×12 so that’s fairly small, but I expect to have over 200 of them by the time I’m finished! I’ve been taping them to the wall to fully dry, but I’m running out of wall space (plus they fall down) and I want to keep them safe. I’m worried that if I put them in a folder or something they’ll stick to each other or the paint will scratch. Do you know a low-cost way to save these until I decide to frame them or destroy them or whatever?

Sounds like a cool project! Here are two suggestions about how to safely store your 9×12 acrylic paintings on canvas paper (based on what I have done in similar situations):

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1. After the acrylic paintings have fully dried, wrap each one individually in a sheet of glassine. Glassine is an acid-free barrier paper that won’t scratch or harm the surface of your paintings. Just wrap them like you would wrap a present and tape it shut in the back.

Then tape your glassine-wrapped painting to one piece of foam board and place another piece of foam board on top, creating a sandwich (see image below). You can use cardboard if you need to, but foam board is usually sturdier and more reliable than cardboard. Make sure each piece of foam board is slightly larger than your painting, to avoid denting or creasing the very edges of your painting.

Then tape the whole thing shut by placing one end of the tape on the top piece of foam board and the other end of the tape on the bottom piece of foam board. You’ll end up with something like this (except you should tape it shut on all 4 edges):

You can do this for each painting, or to save on foam board, you can create a multi-layered “sandwich” like so:

2. Your other alternative is to wrap each individual painting in glassine as outlined above, and then carefully stack each wrapped painting inside a sturdy storage box, so that they are all lying flat. You can use an archival storage box or a cardboard one, depending on how concerned you are (or aren’t) about longevity.

Make sure that the storage box is adequately larger than your wrapped paintings – at least 11″ x 14″. Depending on how deep your box is, you may need to use more than one.

Either of those solutions should allow you to safely store your acrylic canvas paper paintings without them getting scratched, dented, or stuck together.

Hope that helps and Happy Painting!

Storing Acrylics in the Garage

How Should I Store Acrylic Paintings in a Garage?

When most people consider storing their paintings away, their minds immediately jump to saran wrap. Saran wrap is a thin plastic designed to protect food from spoiling and can be sealed air-tight! Surely it’s a good storage choice, right? Wrong. When it comes to acrylic paintings, saran wrap is a pretty risky choice—it can lead to your paintings molding!

Sunlight can also cause your acrylic paintings to fade, turn yellow, and lose their finish. To prevent this from happening, you should avoid storing your paintings in rooms with many windows or exterior walls. Windows will bring in not only sunlight, but also wind, moisture, and other weather-related elements, all things that can quickly damage your acrylic paintings.

Finally, you are going to want to avoid cardboard or wooden boxes. I understand that not everyone has a metal box on-hand, but much like saran wrap, cardboard and wood can lead to dampness, mold, and bugs!

In the following sections, I’ll discuss the best ways to prepare your acrylic paintings for storage.

Archive Your Art

If your acrylic paintings are damaged while in storage, you will want to take a photo inventory. Archiving your paintings ensures that you have digital copies if the originals are ruined.

Photographing your paintings is also an excellent way to document changes over time. Taking a photo of a painting after it has been in storage for a while could reveal damage, which will serve as an incentive to find a better way to store your art.

To archive your paintings, take a photo and add a name, a description of the contents of the painting itself, and any notes on the existing damage. This documentation can be done online at Artwork Archive!

Prepare Your Art for Storage in the Garage

Once the proper documentation is done, you can begin to prepare your art for storage.

1. Clean your paintings with a microfiber cloth. This will remove dust from the surface, so it isn’t trapped with the painting while in storage. You may also want to use wood or metal polish to prevent rusting, depending on whether or not your paintings are framed. Doing this will stop rust from staining your art.

1. Use a crescent board. Crescent board is a type of acid-free professional mounting board that experts use to keep paintings separated during storage. It also keeps paintings from touching each other during transportation. Unlike saran wrap, a crescent board will not cause mold because it will allow your paintings to breathe.

1. All materials you use to store your paintings should be acid-free. Any acidic storage material introduces the risk of dying the backside of your painting. This dying will, in turn, change the color of the painting itself. Materials that are not acid-free also age faster, which means you will have to replace them and ultimately spend more money in the long run. When in doubt, go acid-free!

Keep Acrylic Paintings off the Ground

Because a garage can become flooded quite easily, you will want to avoid setting your storage boxes on the ground. This rule of thumb applies even if your storage boxes are made of metal. A simple alternative to the ground is a shelf or a table. You could even set your art boxes on egg crates or wooden platforms to keep them out of contact with the floor.

Consider a Storage Unit as an Alternative to your Garage

While it would be ideal to have your paintings at home and within reach, storing them in the garage may prove impossible. Perhaps over time, you expect to run out of space. In that scenario, it may be time to consider storing your paintings in a storage unit!

Since you will be storing your paintings outside your home, you should be careful when driving and always store the paintings vertically in their boxes during transportation. Lying them flat will prevent them from knocking against each other and sliding around. Even if you use a crescent board to divide your paintings, the box could potentially tip over and spill while you are driving. Paintings that are lying flat are less likely to move around during transit.

Keep in mind that paintings need to be kept at a steady, cool temperature. Both a garage and a storage unit are ideal for this, as they are cool, dark places. The necessary humidity for painting storage is 70 to 75°F (21 to 24°C). You can achieve this with a humidifier if you’re storing the paintings in your garage versus in a storage unit, which is one advantage to storing your art at home.

Unfortunately, another downside to using a storage unit is the content in your neighbor’s unit. You can control the climate and content of your own unit, but you can’t control what your neighbor stores in their unit!

Your neighbor’s storage unit could contain bugs and spills, all of which might spread into your storage unit and damage your artwork. The risk of neighboring bugs and moisture makes the storage unit a riskier route for storing your acrylic paintings.

Final Words

In conclusion, acrylic paintings should be stored vertically in a climate-controlled space in mold-proof boxes. Keep your paintings away from sunlight and saran wrap. Proper storage will help your art collection last a very long time!

Sources

• Life Storage: How to Store Paintings Without Ruining Them
• Artwork Archive: How To Store Your Art Collection Like an Expert
• Eden Gallery: How to Store Acrylic Paintings

Related posts:

1. Can You Be Allergic To Acrylic Paint?
2. Does Acrylic Paint Fade or Melt in the Sun?
3. Why Is Your Acrylic Paint Not Blending? 5 Reasons
4. Can You Paint Over a Varnished Acrylic Painting?

Storing your Art

After selecting the right materials and creating your artwork in a suitable environment, there are usually two ways to go: storage or framing. The last thing you want is for something to happen at that stage, so to save yourself the disappointment of unwrapping a mouldy mess months later, here are some general guidelines to follow:

1. Make sure the artwork is completely dry before you wrap and store it. This is especially true for oil paintings as depending on the thickness and the composition of paint, they dry between 3 months and 2 years!
2. Varnish your dried artwork with an archival quality varnish that is transparent (to keep its appearance), reversible (a museum conservator can remove it), elastic (allowing for the canvas to stretch) and resistant to moisture (to avoid mould, rust and other issues).
3. Avoid any touching of the painted surface to minimise the risk of contamination. Use cotton gloves when handling your paintings.
4. Use acid-free packaging such as tissue paper or glassine. You can bubble wrap your artwork for storage and transportation but leave it slightly open so it can breathe.
5. Store your paintings vertically, rather than horizontally and do not stack them. Pressure can trap the air and cause condensation build up whilst heavy loads can crack or otherwise move the layers and alter the appearance of your work.
6. If storing horizontally, use a rack, shelving or a planchest and use padding between artworks if you need to stack them.
7. Do not lean artwork against damp walls and always leave a gap to allow for air circulation.
8. If storing artworks in cardboard boxes or airtight containers, you still need to wrap them individually and following the above storage rules. Cardboard is not acid-free and both are prone to trap moisture.
9. Label each box and keep an inventory that includes the location for each item. This will save you the headache when a painting sells and you need to locate it quickly.
10. Keep your storage space dry and limit sunlight but keep in mind that oil paintings gradually darken or yellow when they are not exposed to light due to their linseed oil content. This can easily be reversed by placing them under diffused light for a few days.

Archiving Materials (from left to right): varnishes, acid-free tissue and glassine

Storing Watercolour Paintings, Drawings and Prints (Artwork on Paper)

1. Store watercolour paintings, drawings and prints horizontally and flat rather then rolled up in a tube. Overlapping paper can grate the surface of your artwork and if humidity is involved, it can turn into a disaster!
2. Use acid-free packaging (tissue, glassine, etc). You can wrap the artwork completely or interleave the material between artworks kept in the same folder. Glassine is especially good for separating pastels and other porous media as it won’t smudge the surface.
3. Avoid storing artwork in plastic or cellophane sleeves as they might trap condensation and ruin your artwork. Clear cellophane bags are generally used for displaying artwork and prints at artshows and sent to customers through marketplace sales but these are not normally acid-free so should be short term only solutions. If you are planning to store them long term, make sure you buy ones that are acid-free or buy glassine envelopes which are also environmentally friendly and biodegradable.
4. Avoid touching the surface of your artwork and use cotton gloves when handling it. This will reduce the risk of contamination.
5. Your storage space should be dark and dry with a nonfluctuating temperature. Once the artwork is carefully wrapped, place it in a folder, cardboard box or in a plastic container and find a suitable place. The back of a wardrobe can be a good option, a planchest is the best one. Keep the box away from heat and damp and install dehumidifiers if necessary.
6. Label all boxes and keep an inventory.

Storage Options for Paper (from left to right): Portfolios, Plastic Storage Boxes and Planchest

Framing your Art

The same rules apply when it comes to framing your work: avoid acid, sunlight and UV radiation, humidity and handling with bare hands. Here are some additional tips:

1. Frame under UV filtering glass or acrylic glass rather than ordinary glass which does not filter UV at all. Filters don’t provide 100% protection but framing with filtering glass can extend your artwork’s life to up to 100 years.
2. Everything involved in the framing process should be acid-free. This includes mountboards, backing boards and framing tape. Acid in glue can be especially dangerous and while the damage is gradual, in 30 years your entire artwork will look… well, brown. Backing boards are often made from wood which is acidic due to is lignin content. If you are using foamboard, make sure it is archival too as both varieties exist.
3. Use mountboards to keep a gap between the artwork and the glass, otherwise it might stick to it. This is very dangerous because it can create a condensation build-up and it might even rip the surface of the artwork when they are finally separated.
4. Leave a gap between the artwork and the wall, too. You can easily create home-made bumpers even from pieces of wood or cardboard as they don’t come into contact with the artwork. Check behind paintings regularly to catch any problems before they reach the artwork and reposition them if necessary.
5. Avoid displaying in humid environments such as kitchens where the evaporating steam, oil and other food particles can settle on the frame and glass and seep into the artwork, causing it to degrade even when framed correctly.
6. Hang artwork in optimal light conditions: diffused natural light works best even when framed under UV glass.
7. Dust frames and glass regularly with microfiber clothes and avoid cleaners altogether. Dusting them twice a year is usually enough.

Archival framing Materials (from left to right): Pre-cut Mounts, Foamboard and Framing Tape

These are the general rules of storing and framing artworks and we hope the information will help you keep your drawings and paintings in good shape for as long as possible. Remember to buy acid-free paper and paints made with lightfast pigments and create the best conditions in your studio when it comes to lighting, temperature and humidity. All art materials mentioned in this article can be purchased through our website, by calling 01273 260260 ext 1. or in our shop at 208-212 Portland Road, Hove.