Question on colorfastness.

[Kristen2026]

I did a portrait a few years ago of two young boys. I used the best colorfast color pencils I could buy, sprayed it with a fixative and had it frame with UV protective glass. I recently had an opportunity to see it again after a number of years. The colors had faded quite a bit. I'm wondering what I could have done better. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Terri]

Hi Kristin - I'm sorry your portrait faded like this!

Not knowing what brand or type of colored pencils you used, I can only wonder about a few things:
Was the portrait subjected to direct sunlight at any time?
Were the colored pencils oil based, wax based? Were they student grade, or labeled as artist grade/lightfast?
Was your fixative spray also a UV protectant?

Just a few of the variables that could have played a part in the fading. There are several ways that could have happened!

Even the paper type might not have helped you: was this an acid free, artist grade paper?

Hopefully, some of this will help point to a possible culprit!

Some others here might weigh in with additional help or suggestions.

 

[PaintBoss]

You read my mind, Terri. Those are my thoughts on the subject as well.
An archival acid free paper is very important as the foundation for the colour to sit on.
Kristen, it sound like you were definitely taking many proactive steps to try to protect it. I’m sorry, it has faded so much. You know, even with all that effort and materials, I would try very hard to caution others to really try to keep it out of the sunlight. Just tempting Fate. And remember, even in an artist set of colours some of them are more lightfast than others. There are some colours that are known to be very strong and some are a lot weaker. So you might find that some colours are still pretty good, but others are disappearing.
I’m impressed you went with the UV glass. That’s fantastic. It is very expensive. I wonder what that company would say about this? Maybe sun can still do damage despite your trying. Maybe they would say it’s not 100% if it’s in the sunlight. It won’t fade as much as regular glass or as quickly. But that doesn’t mean it won’t fade. Oh, that fine print! I have to tell you it’s a real bummer hearing that it failed so much.
So frustrating to see a piece you’re proud of fade like that.