Cleaning a painting? Should I or shouldn't I?

Cleaning paintings is an important concern of collectors. I had a discussion with a lady who had recently purchased a couple paintings from circa the 1930's. She mentioned they had a yellow appearance.  She did not want to "ruin" or "alter" the piece, she was afraid of devaluing it. I explained that the varnish applied by an artist of the 1930's was most likely clear. The aging of the varnish and the circumstances in which the painting has lived over the last 80 yrs has resulted in the yellowing of the varnish. I do not believe the artist intended for the white water of the ocean to appear yellow. Yellow varnish alters the appearance of colors, for example; blue's turn green, pinks turn orange, purples turn brown, white's turn yellow etc...
Above is a detail of the contrast we see daily in the cleaning of old discolored varnishes.  This is a detail of a painting I am working on today.
As with all painting's that come into the lab for cleaning, we do not use home-depot-off-the-shelf cleaners. Each painting is different and reacts differently to the variety of solvents and  mixtures we use. Each painting undergo's a specific and careful evaluation, many tests are preformed to find the best solution which does not compromise the stability or sensitivity of paint.
Thank you for your interest!
For any question's please contact:
Scott Haskins
best_artdoc@yahoo.com
805-564-3438

For any questions regarding appraisals please contact:
Richard Holgate - certified appraiser, member of the International Society of Appraisers
jrholgate@yahoo.com
805-895-5121

Would You Throw This Artwork Away?!

From Trash to Treasure with Conservation

Amazingly, this fascinating piece was found flaking and dirty in the garbage! An inept attempt was made to “restore” it that involved an abundant application of wax to hold the painting together and a wipe with solvent to remove part of the dirt.

The Dumpster Diver who found the painting gave it to a collector who recognized that under the mess of flaking paint, wax, and dirt, there was a quality vintage image. Some research and closer examination revealed the title and date: “The Discussion” from 1929. This discovery encouraged the collector to contact us for a closer examination and professional conservation treatment.

Once the painting was cleaned, FACL discovered the artist Pruett Carter’s signature in the lower right corner. This is a well-known illustrator and finding this information added value to a piece that had been thought to be worthless. Once the conservation work is completed, the artwork will look perfect and will be, once again, a quality work of art.

FACL recommends you get an expert to look over anything before you get rid of works of art, because many pieces can be restored to have significant value.

You can get more interesting stories and tips on our Facebook page, "Fine Art Conservation" and "Save Your Stuff"
See what you can do at home to preserve your stuff at www.saveyourstuffblog.com
Be prepared at work/office with tips from www.saveyourstufffromadisaster.com

Fine Art Conservation Lab 805 564 3438
Personal Property Appraisal 805 895 5121

Flaking, dirty and thrown in the trash, this discovery was a real treasure.

Another Cleaning Lady And Her Damp Rag!

Perhaps you saw the previous flaking painting that was caused by the cleaning lady wiping down the painting every once in awhile with a damp rag. Well, here's another example! This is so sad because it is so avoidable.

Don't use more than your feather duster to keep webs off. The only thing worse than a damp rag would be to spray the surface first with a cleaner.

Besides causing flaking, damp rags also make varnish layers cloud up (called blooming)... very unsightly.

George Washington Is In The House!

By far, the most famous portraits of George Washington were done by Gilbert Stewart at the end of the 1700's. Its kind of cool to see one up close and personal... even better to massage it. We got to put our fingers all over this one by giving it a light surface cleaning, a couple of spots of touch up (inpaint) and a new varnish. Now he's all prettied up for the holidays!

The Cleaning Lady Was Knocking The Paint Off!!!

Can you see where the cleaning lady was knocking paint off when she dusted? Sometimes paint peels up and flakes off in tiny patterns and unless you are looking for them, you won't notice until its too late. If too much original paint is lost, you will loose value. You can always have it repaired... but it may loose value just the same.

Here's a tip for your cleaning lady: Don't touch the art work! Don't wipe down (dust) the frames with a damp rag.

BTW, I like this picture. I'm drawn to the illustration art from back in the 1930's through the 1950's that Norman Rockwell made so famous. This is not a Rockwell but as you can see, there were other great artists.

Watch out for your cleaning lady! Paintings don't like damp rags.

There are several places on this painting that are flaking in small pin point patterns. This is typical of paint layers that are wiped with damp rags... repeatedly. Finishes on frames also don't react well! I cleaned a gorgeous California landscape from the 1920's by John Gamble once upon a time; a $45k picture with coastline and poppies that was otherwise in perfect condition. About 10 years later, it returned to my lab and it was flaking everywhere in these small pin point patterns. A completely avoidable situation not to mention the loss of value. In the case of the painting in this photo, what more dangerous spot to have flaking than the signature!?

Fabulous new painting by Teichert found in a garage!

The director of the Historical Dept. of the LDS church recently told me a story that someone "had found" a painting by Minerva Teichert in their garage... whaaaaat?! "Found?" And this wasn't a little sketch in a box... this was a major painting of Christ blessing the children at the bountiful Temple in 3 Nephi, 48" x 54" in size. Imagine having something like this in your garage with a leaky roof and bicycles and junk pushed up against it?!

Our labor of love was to clean it, stabilize any deterioration (stop flaking and reduce cracks), varnish etc. The final result should be a painting that you will see in the future in many publications, posters etc. Maybe you'll even get a copy of it for your meeting house? You heard about it first, here... at the moment of its discovery and saving conservation efforts.

Value? Given the prosperity in the church (hungry buyers in an auction?) and the rarity of such great paintings I would guess at least $1 million... but that's just a guess. I haven't shown you the whole painting in the photo because of copyright issues.

A Jewel in the Rough

Today in the lab, among the many deadlines awaiting our attention; came a jewel in the rough.  The cleaning of this painting is astounding.  Coming across paintings who's varnish is severly discolored and grimey, it always amazes me when we get a differance like this.  A yellow varnish can obliterate detail, makes beautiful blues...green, kills the pinks, and shallows depth of field. Not to mention adds visual weight and confuses the artist's original intent of a light and airy landscape.

This painting was "bombed" with 3 different colors of fire retardant in the last Santa Barbara fire! The soot and smoke were so bad that the owner of this family heirloom thought it was a "throw away." But a friend told him to have us give it a look: cleaning away the surface "stuff" and by removing the old varnish, we found the original painting to be in excellent condition!