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

Ever Heard of the Mission Inn in Riverside CA?

Ever heard of the Mission Inn in Riverside CA? I love this place! I think of it kind of like a Hearst Castle but you can stay there. Its got the same kind of feel to it though the appearance of the property isn't similar. If you already know about the Mission Inn, you may find this info interesting:

Our lab has worked on (preserving, restoring) the hundreds of paintings around the Mission Inn and designed and planned exhibits and placements in the public areas. We still do work for them and consult. The photo is of the Spanish Art Gallery, a favorite place for receptions, is full of Spanish Colonial Paintings. There are some great works of art to be seen including a major work by William Keith and the original series of 38 paintings of the Missions of California by Henry Chapman Ford from 1870's.

Go to missioninn.com and try Googling "Spanish Art Gallery" and "St. Cecilia's Chapel". Poke around. You'll see what I mean about it being a fun place, romantic and the food is very good too.

Look at this rip! Want to see some magic?!

This rip, on the left, was kind-a ugly: Ripped when the nail gave way and it fell off the wall. See entry at our other blog (www.savemystuff.blogspot.com). It ripped the fibers and got uglier when the fibers frayed.

So we turned it over and, under magnification, the fibers were realigned and rewoven. Then the ends of the fibers were "re-welded" back together. The photo on the right is the back of the rip after the "re-welding" and readhering of the ends back together. Nice, huh?

Even though the rip looks great and is now flat, the stress from the impact will result, in the future, in a disfiguring spiderweb or bull's eye type cracking pattern. So this painting will be lined to keep that from happening.

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.

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!?

Damage and tragedy in a storm..

Just think! The other day a storm hit a town in central CA so forcefully that a Masterpiece was knocked off the wall of the museum! It's all on the QT of course... but I've been "summoned" tomorrow post haste (spelled correctly?) to assess the situation for the insurance company. My instructions to the curator were to scoop up all the knocked off paint and put it in a film canister (does anyone even have those around anymore?!) and I can put all the paint pieces back in place so there is minimal touch up (inpainting) needed... which could affect the value depending on how much there was. Tomorrow, as I inspect this large great painting I'll have with me my bottle on consolidation adhesive to do a little ER action on the scene. Question, do your paintings have strong hanging hardware and wire... and solidly mounted hooks in the wall? So, tomorrow, on the road again...