Recently I was asked about a painting restoration problem:

“I have an oil painting that has a bulge from being stored against a piece of furniture. Can the canvas damage be repaired, and if so, what method would you recommend.
Many thanks. Janice.”

This was my answer to Janice, hope this helps anyone out there attempting to restore an oil painting:

First, don’t try to do this yourself if the painting has any value — either sentimental or monetary. It’s a bad idea to experiment with restoration techniques on something you wish to keep (or sell). I would contact a competent restorer, since the age and specific formulation of the oil paints will affect the possible solutions.

If you decide to try and restore it yourself, first step is the old fashioned way of placing the bulge between two books or other flat objects and leave it on a flat surface, and see what happens. Also check to see if it needs to be cleaned. This will improve the bulge but will not take it completely away…

Next step in the process is to try and mix up some white gesso with a small amount of hot water. Paint that liberally over the BACK SIDE of the bulge and hit it lightly with a hair dryer to speed up the drying and the contraction of that material. Position the blow dryer about 10-14 inches away from surface using a fanning motion, begin drying from the frame around in circular patterns working your way to the indentation. (Use the indentation as the center of your circle or oval ….) This will stretch and pull the dented area flat. DO NOT OVER HEAT THE CANVAS!!!! Take your time and you will have good results.

It may take several coats but unless the bulge is really bad you will have a fair amount of success.

Hope this helps Janice or anyone else out there that is faced with a similar problem. Share your experiences if you can!

OverstockArt.com, the online retailer of handmade oil paintings, has officially released the annual “Top 10 Oil Paintings” ranking for 2006. According to David Sasson, CEO of OverstockArt.com, the company releases its Top 10 list of best selling oil paintings each year to show which works of art are the “hippest, most desirable” paintings on the market — a fact, he says, many people are interested to know.

“A lot of people want to know what’s selling best because it gives them an idea of what’s trendy, what’s hip, what’s cool and what their respective peer groups are going to enjoy,” he said. “This is especially true in the business world where offices have to keep up with the latest interior décor trends and maintain a sense of modern quality to impress customers and clients… a lot of business owners like to make sure they’re up to speed.”

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According to the 200 page curator report that has been submitted on Thursday to the Munch Museum in Oslo, Norway, the famous Edvard Munch oil painting masterpiece, the scream, that was stolen in August 2004 and recovered two years later in August 2006, has suffered a great deal of damage.

The most harmful damage of all is the water absorptions in the corners of the paper board.

“The Scream” is probably the best known masterpiece of the Norwegian painter. The scream is an emotionally charged work and was a major influence on the Expressionist movement. In the painting, a figure is screaming or hearing a scream. The image has become an icon of human anxiety.

According to the museum spokeswomen, it is unclear how long it will take until the Munch masterpiece is back on display, lets just hope that it will not loose from its grace and powerful emotions.

Joan Miro (1893 – 1983) was a Spanish painter born in Barcelona. Miro’s art is considered to be a part of Surrealism even though he himself rejected that notion.

Miro went against the grain all his life. He detested conventional methods for oil painting and established new ways for expression with many different art forms.

During his childhood, Miro was always drawn to art, and in 1920 he finally moved to Paris. There, under the influence of contemporary poets and writers, he developed a very unique style: organic forms and flattened picture planes drawn with a sharp line.

Miro’s style was influenced in varying degrees by Surrealism and Salvador Dali, yet he rejected the notion of having any affiliation to the Surrealist artistic movement. With that said, André Breton, the founder of Surrealism, called him “the most Surrealist of us all.”

By not being affiliated with the Surrealists, Miro was free to experiment with many artistic forms. Miro’s artistic autonomy allowed him to express himself in different kinds of media, from Sculpting, Ceramics to window painting.

Miro had far fetched ideas about gas sculptures and four-dimensional paintings, ideas that he wrote down in the last years of his life. His art is a testament of how unique and profound he was. He is a great source of inspiration to any upcoming artist.

Stretching your own oil painting is easier than you might think and can be cheaper than having the painting stretched by the framing company.

In order to stretch a canvas you’ll need the following supplies from an art store:

• Four stretcher bars.
• A staple gun and staples (or carpet tacks and hammer).
• Clamps

Steps to Stretch:

1. The first step is to join the stretcher bars. Lay them out on a flat surface, and push the corners together by hand. If necessary, tap the corners gently with a rubber hammer. Check that they form a right angle with something that is fairly accurate, such as a book.
2. Staple the four corners of the stretcher bars together forming a rectangular frame.
3. Roll out your canvas, put the formed stretcher bars on top of it, and wrap it around the bars. The canvas should fold over the outside edges of the wooden bars.
4. The most important things to remember when stapling your canvas to the stretcher bars is to work from the middle outwards and alternating opposite sides.
5. Starting in the center on any side, staple the canvas to the back of the stretcher. Put in about three staples, approximately two inches apart. With your first few canvases, you’ll probably put in more staples than you need; practice will give you a feel for this.
6. Move to the opposite side, while pulling the canvas tightly with the clamp, and staple the middle in place. Repeat with the other two edges.
7. At the corners of the canvas you need to fold the canvas over creating a nice corner and stapling it in place.
8. If you feel that the canvas was not stretched properly, don’t try and fix it. My advice to you is to take all the staples out and just start over again.

Tips:

1. Stretchers are sold in standard sizes, check the size of your art and then go to your local art supply store and ask for the appropriate size stretcher bars.
2. Get a friend to help you by holding the canvas in place if you don’t have clamps.
3. If your local art store doesn’t sell stretcher bars, buy it from an on-line supplier, just check for the size of the bars first.
4. Some online galleries stretch the painting for free if you purchase the painting framed. If you don’t feel up to stretching it yourself, it might be a good idea to have it framed by professionals.

On Tuesday, December 12th the birthday of the famous Norwegian painter, Edvard Munch, was celebrated around the world. The date was distinguished mostly due to Google’s effort to make a cool Google logo mannered after the famous Edvard Munch’s Scream oil painting.

This is not the first time that Google celebrates a famous artist birthday. On the contrary, they have done a great job covering birthdays of great artists paying homage to the masters and their creativity. Here is a list of famous artist tribute Google logos, see if you can spot the artists…