Watt Restoration

TURNED OUT TO BE A PRETTY NICE DAY, AFTER ALL

This little panel painting on board is dirty, or was dirty.

Besides completely masking the design, the colors, and the details of this picture, the surface dirt has swapped the crisp March morning for a dour November afternoon.
The dirt is not just a layer that has settled on the paint surface. It is a complex interaction of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, silicon, phosphorus, proteins, salts and minerals in an ionic dance with the pigments and the resins of the painting. These elements have been dancing for years. They really get moving when it rains, or snows outside. And when the HVAC system goes on and off. How about soot from the fireplace or romantic candles. What about the mangy hound that’s scratching in the corner.
Before you grab the Windex to clean your artwork, seek a conservation professional to do the dirty work…like…WATT RESTORATION.

Clear Your Brow
Art Conservators are relaxing with fresher air these days. Thanks to Conservation scientists, like Chris Stavroudis and others, cleaning paint surfaces are moving away from heavy solvents to more user and environmentally friendly solutions. Chris conducted a Workshop on his Modular Cleaning Program at the St. Louis Art Museum this past March. Under an IMLS grant petitioned by the Missouri Botanical Garden and attended by many Missouri conservators, the Workshop offered a new, cleaner age of conservation.

50 Shades of Grey-At Least
This monochromatic oil painting struts the power of grey. Once the sepia colored grime was removed, a handsome landscape in the moonlight “came out”. A tiny paint specimen chipped from one of the painting’s deepest, darkest, black shadows showed anything but black pigment. The paint chip, crushed and grinded and viewed under the microscope, showed a kaleidoscope of colors. The sober, somber shades of grey are not what they seem.

Add a wonderfully descriptive new term to your art conservation glossary. FARINACEOUS. It is an adjective to describe a starch-based adhesive used prior to modern synthetic adhesives. It could be a combination of wheat, or corn, or flax, or an apple, or potato, etc. and it was mashed together with a clay, or a resin, or animal hide collagen. You get the idea.
And it was wonderfully strong. This gritty, mealy, farinaceous substance was likely applied to this Old Master canvas to repair a tear. And it's still holding.

As you take down your Holiday decorations and rearrange your wall art, take a moment to look closely at your art collection. Are there missing flakes of paint? Are there stains or dirt smudges? It may be time to have an art conservation professional to access the piece and advice restoration. Contact Watt Restoration.