Can You Leave an Acrylic Painting in a Hot Car?

We often see artists storing paintings in a room with a suitable constant room temperature, which means temperature affects the image.

If you are traveling with your paintings and leave them in your car during the hot summer months, you might be worried. It’s natural to wonder, can I leave an acrylic painting in a hot car?

Well, yes, but maybe for a short time. And depending on the ambient temperature of where you live, the answer may vary a little. Let us delve into the details about what heat does to acrylic paints and what you can do to avoid any damage to your valuable paintings. 

Can You Leave an Acrylic Painting in a Hot Car?

Generally, acrylic paint can withstand sunlight without fading, and you don’t even have to worry about whether acrylic paint melts in excess heat. So, is acrylic paint heat resistant? Well, not entirely, but when compared to oil based paints such as regular oil paints and even fabric paint, it holds up better in hot weather. 

Although acrylic paintings can withstand heat to some extent, if you leave your car parked under the sun, the excess heat will cause some damage. In a really hot car, the paint might start to dry up much quicker and form a paint film which will ruin the texture of the painting.

If your canvas has wet paint and you leave it in high temperatures, dust particles may get caught, and there will be evident brush marks of the dried acrylic paint. 

Since acrylic paints are water based paints, they dry much faster than oil paint. This means that the high heat can form a brittle paint film and lap marks, which may ruin the look of the picture. You might also face this issue if you are using specifically acrylic latex paint for your artwork. 

If your painting is still wet, then the surface layer may dry up much faster in your hot car, while the interior paint will still be wet. Due to the excess heat, the paintings may have some acrylic paint peeling off. This happens because the sun’s rays will heat chemicals from the paint, which breaks the bonds of the pigment. 

Effect of the Sun on Acrylic Paintings

The sun’s UV rays are known to have adverse effects on paintings. Hence, most professional artists keep their work away from even the most indirect light.

However, acrylic paint can withstand light from the sun better than most other paints, such as oil based paint. But it is still best if you take to put some protection on your pictures.

You may not have known this, but the rays from the sun have a slow bleaching effect on paintings, especially the Ultraviolet rays. Since exposure to direct sunlight in hot weather can lead to a build-up of excessive heat, any paint that has not dried completely may bubble.

Furthermore, blisters may be formed on your painting. Both the temperature and humidity in your car under direct sunlight will be high, significantly increasing the drying time. 

Therefore, you should not work on your painting in a very hot and sunny environment. On the contrary, if you’re working with latex paints in a hot environment, then you’ll notice they dry so quickly that you may not get the chance to blend the colors. 

What Should You Do to Protect Your Paintings from the Sun and Heat in Your Car?

After we said that the ultraviolet rays of the sun have a bleaching effect, you may be wondering can acrylic paints fade in the sun. The answer is yes, they can, but it will take many years to fade if you take proper care of them. So, let’s take a look at what you should do to avoid this fading of color. 

If you plan on framing your art, then for UV protection, you should also put UV plexiglass instead of regular glass. This glass does an excellent job of protecting your work of art from washing out. It isn’t really that expensive, so we believe that this is definitely a worthy investment.

Another step that you should take to protect your acrylic painting from sun damage is to use varnish. Using varnish to seal off your painting is standard practice for most artists, and this product comes in different forms. You can brush it onto your painting, or you can even use a spray varnish over your painting. Sealing off your paint with varnish is an absolute must if you’re working on an outdoor painted project.

Please ensure that the paint on your canvas has properly dried before you go ahead and start applying the varnish. The special glass, along with the varnish, will do an excellent job at protecting your art from the harsh environment inside a hot car.

However, we would still suggest you park your car under a shade, so you don’t have to worry about a thing. 

What Is the Ideal Temperature Range for Storing Acrylic Paintings?

Acrylic art pieces aren’t too sensitive to temperature, unlike oil paintings, so you can store them at the standard room temperature most of us have. To be precise, the ideal temperature range for storing them would be from 60 to 80 F.

If you want to be a bit more careful with your prized painting, then store it at around 70 F in a room with low humidity for better longevity. 

Many of you may think it isn’t a problem to leave your paintings in very low temperatures, but it is. Because this paint is water-based, and the freezing point of acrylic paint is approximately 32, if you leave them in extremely cold weather, then microscopic ice crystals may form and destroy your happy painting.

Final Words

After reaching the end of the article, we hope you can understand whether you can leave an acrylic painting in a hot car or not. As you can tell, it’s certainly not the best idea and can be easily avoided if you park your car where there is shade. 

However, if you find yourself in such circumstances when this is unavoidable, try to leave them in the hot car for the shortest time possible.