Cleaning the Skies

This sky was darkened by decades of dust and grime.  It lightened considerably by the time I was finished.

This painting was severely yellowed from being in a smoker's home.

                       

Mid- Cleaning

I took this picture after a small section was cleaned.  It's always exciting to see what is beneath the dirt, grime and old varnish. 

Unknown Girl Painting

While in the back room at a gallery, this portrait was pierced by a sharp frame falling right through the middle.

After carefully re-weaving the tear, I added special inpainting colors.

End result

Cleaning

After a close examination and photos, the next step is the cleaning of the surface. I used an emulsion cleaner, which removes surface grim and grit and even thin layers of varnish.

Here, I cleaned one half of the painting. You can see a definite difference especially in the cloud the the upper left corner.

After the second half is done.

Full view of one half cleaned.

Side ways picture of finished cleaning. I'll turn this photo around when I figure out how to....

Pretty Cracked Tree Landscape

Subject: Tree Landscape

Artist: Clark Hubart (1868-1948)

Year: 1900 circa

Technique: Oil on artist board

Support: Artist board. Stable, still in good shape.

Ground: White, thin

Pictoral Film: Oil, Brush strokes evident. The paint layer is cracked.

Varnish: not evident

Conservation/Restoration Intervention:

Overall, this piece is not in that bad of shape. Basicly, I'm going to attempt to conserve or maintain what is already here, rather than attempting to bring it back to a previous state which could possible harm the painting or change the image. This would go against the "rules of restoration". At the base of these rules is, "Minimal intervention". This means: Putting the piece under as less stress as possible. Not adding too much to the image, changing it in anyway.. respecting the painting for what it is and its own unique qualities and its history. Also, the instventions have to be reversible. Ten, twenty or more years down the road, the painting will eventually have to be restored again. Everything done and used on the painting have to be stripped away and redone. Restoration is a constanly evolving field, and later on, there might be a better way of doing things, we have to keep this in mind.

To be continued........

Restoring my Birdies

Once upon a time, I went to sell my paintings at outside event. It was a lovely day filled with sunshine and laughing children. Everything was great... until... out of no where, a great gust of wind knocked over one of my paintings and it went tumbling down and the metal frame cut into the unsuspecting canvas below. Sadly, my lovely little painting was left with a big tear. Fortunately, I am trained in art restoration.. and I would like to share with you how I repaired my birdy painting... and how I could restore yours as well.. if you let me...

The tear. In this lighting you can see how the impact caused deformations in the canvas.

I attached a new piece of canvas under the tear and then put this zone under pressure while it dried to regain it's original eveness of the canvas.

I used some acrylic molding paste to recreate the ground of the painting.

I then carefully chiseled away the excess dried paste until it was at an even level with the surrounding paint.

I then painted over the paste with various colors to imitate the existing paint.