Ageing a painting in Easel by Zaweba

Paintings change after they leave the easel. Varnish turns amber, some colours fade in the light, oil paint cracks into a fine web, cheap paper browns at the edges. The old masters we admire today look the way they do partly because of centuries of this. Easel by Zaweba lets you see it happen with a single command: age the picture.

It is a way to give a painting an antique look, to learn which materials last, and to see a finished picture through the eyes of time.

What ageing changes

Five things happen when you age a picture in Easel.

Oil and varnish yellow. A real oil painting, especially one varnished with traditional varnish, warms over the years. Blues turn greenish, whites turn cream.

Fugitive colours fade. Some pigments are not lightfast and lose their strength in light. After ageing, those colours are paler or gone.

Silverpoint tarnishes. Silverpoint lines change over time in real life, and in Easel they tarnish too.

Newsprint browns. Cheap paper made from wood pulp yellows and browns quickly, as anyone who has kept an old newspaper knows.

Old oil cracks. The fine network of cracks seen on old paintings, often called craquelure, appears in aged oil paint.

Why it is useful

The first reason is look. If you are painting in an old master style, a portrait in oil or a still life with gold leaf, ageing gives it the warm, cracked surface people associate with museum paintings.

The second is learning. Ageing shows which of your choices would hold up in real life. If a colour vanishes when aged, it was fugitive. The pigment library lists lightfastness, so you can check before you paint and choose colours that last.

The third is curiosity. It is genuinely interesting to see how a picture might look in a century.

Making ageing look right

Choose the materials that would age the way you want. Traditional oil on canvas, varnished, ages warm and cracked. Silverpoint on its ground tarnishes gently. Newsprint browns. Watercolour on good paper with lightfast pigments changes little.

Varnish first if you want the yellowing. Varnish in gloss, satin or matt finishes the surface, and it is part of what yellows.

Think about the fat over lean rule too. In Easel, lean paint dried over fat cracks as it is, so a painting with careless layering may already show cracks before you age it.

Keeping a fresh copy

Ageing changes the picture, so save a version before you age it. Save to a .zeasel file, then age. That way you have both: the fresh painting and its antique twin. Undo also covers many steps if you change your mind.

Export both if you like. A side by side of a painting fresh and aged makes a striking pair, and it is a nice way to show a student why lightfastness and good layering matter.

A word on restraint

An antique look works best when it suits the subject. A Renaissance style portrait wears age well. A bright modern street art piece may not. Easel by Zaweba gives you the effect in one step, so it costs nothing to try, look, and decide.