From the moment an oil painting is completed, it begins to age. Oil paintings on canvas may suffer from several ailments over the years such as yellowed varnish, smoke damage, mildew, tears or rips in the canvas, and flaking paint. Whether you're getting ready to send an oil painting of a well known artist to auction or just want to restore the brilliance of original color to a family heirloom, you may want to consider having the painting cleaned to optimize your return.
Perhaps your oil painting just needs a cleaning by removing the layers of the old-yellowed varnish to reveal the freshness of the colors underneath. Or, it may need more extensive restoration such as re-lining of the original canvas with new canvas to repair a tear and re-consolidate the paint layers to give the your painting a new lease on life for future generations.
If you’re curious about the restoration techniques used, or viewing a sampling of paintings in various stages of restoration or just finding out whether your original painting could benefit from such services, give me a call...I'd love to look at your painting and discuss options with you.
Apr 18, 2010
Apr 17, 2010
Why Cleaning your Oil Painting is Important
Cleaning the painting allows the colors and details of the artwork to be seen and appreciated the way the artist originally intended them to look. People may ask - “But aren’t you destroying the patina of the painting by cleaning it?” When people refer to patina they are often talking about the “golden glow”, the look of yellowed varnish over a painting as well as the dirt that gradually over time becomes ingrained in the paint, thus clouding the details and dulling the colors. In oil paintings, “true patina” refers to the progressive darkening of the paint caused by the oil it contains and also the craquelure, a fine network of cracks that develops over time in a painting. An old painting conveys something of the personality of the painter and to bring these out to the fullest is more important than to preserve years of dirt and aged varnish. The true patina, craquelure and darkening of the paint will be preserved when correctly cleaned.
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