Eric: When painting with professional grade, excellent-rated lightfastness paints, we can be assured of high longevity. Many of today’s pigments have come out of the automotive and plastics industry and are therefore very durable.
In short, an answer to a potential collector could be: “they will outlast you and me, and our children”. In my 26 years of painting I have found that my early paintings are still as vibrant in color as they were the day I painted them.
I once asked a representative for a major watercolor manufacturer this question and his answer was “we feel confident with permanent colorfastness to 100 years under normal lighting conditions, with an indefinite time period after that.”
This sounds permanent to me! ( I think the UV glass folks don’t like to hear this!)
Question: How permanent are today’s watercolors?
Eric: When painting with professional grade, excellent-rated lightfastness paints, we can be assured of high longevity. Many of today’s pigments have come out of the automotive and plastics industry and are therefore very durable.
In short, an answer to a potential collector could be: “they will outlast you and me, and our children”. In my 26 years of painting I have found that my early paintings are still as vibrant in color as they were the day I painted them.
I once asked a representative for a major watercolor manufacturer this question and his answer was “we feel confident with permanent colorfastness to 100 years under normal lighting conditions, with an indefinite time period after that.”
This sounds permanent to me! ( I think the UV glass folks don’t like to hear this!)