Dear Giselle,
An artist friend Lynne Frehm dropped by as I was reading your letter. She suggests bread for cleaning surface dirt from oil paintings--even ones with heavy impasto. (Of course, avoid any areas where paint may be flaking.)

The procedure is as follows:

1. Buy a loaf (two or three loaves if the painting is large) of a good doughy bread--a large sourdough works nicely.
2. On a pretty day, take the painting outdoors--or work inside on a large drop cloth--since this is a messy procedure.
3. Using dough pulled from the inside of the loaf, scrub the painting using gentle pressure. You will see the soil collect on the dough. Get a new hunk of dough as the older piece gets dirty or disintegrates. Continue this process over the entire surface of the work.
4. Using a soft bristle brush-- such as a good quality house painting brush--brush the remaining dough crumbs off the painting. Go methodically over the entire surface because the dough likes to stick and any remaining crumbs would be an enticement to insects.

Good luck with your spring cleaning!

Yours,



Dear Mrs. Biddington,
This may be a silly question, but I recently bought an oil painting on artists' board, and it definitely needs some cleaning up. How do I do this? It's not a valuable piece, and if it were one of my paintings I'd just take some soap and water to it. What shall I do?
Thank you,
Tommy

Dear Tommy,
At Biddington's we appreciate any questions regarding the care of paintings. We hope you purchased this particular one because you were most fond of it and want your heirs to enjoy it, too.

Many of us have items that we enjoy and wish to preserve even though the items do not carry a large appraised value. In cases where a painting is valued at less than $700, professional restoration may not be cost effective. So let us consider your alternatives:

Since your painting is on artist board, it is probably no more than 50 or 60 years old. Protecting paintings with a layer of varnish has not been standard practice in the latter half of this century, this further suggests that your painting doesn't have a buildup of varnish, oil residues and imbedded grime that would require using a solvent. (Alcohol and cotton swabs work well on such oils and some varnishes, but please don't try this on the family Vermeer.)

Your biggest concern before undertaking any surface cleaning would be the actual quality of the paint's adherence to the artist board. If the paint is flaking or if the impasto (paint layer) is very thick and raised from the surface, you probably should just leave the piece as is. If the surface appears stable, intact and relatively flat, you might try the following approach:

Remember: patience and a light touch are required.

Dust the piece--ever so gently--with a very soft brush. (Imagine you are cleaning a soiled rose bloom from the garden.) Next, prepare a mild soap solution (dishwashing liquid works well) and clean, soft rags. Using a very gentle blotting motion, clean off surface oil and grime build-up. Work in small areas. At no time should the painting's surface be allowed to become saturated with the soap solution. And for heaven's sake, don't rub. Let this dry. If progress has been made, but it doesn't yet meet your standards of clean. You may repeat this process--once.

Other caveats: Do not submerge the painting in water. Its backing could warp and possibly dissolve. In fact, the less water you use on this painting, the better.

There are no guarantees here: If the artist did not take proper steps in preparing the board, then you may find paint starting to flake off. The main reason why older paintings have varnish buildup is from previous efforts to counter this effect. Also, if you have mistaken gouache, watercolor or any other readily soluable medium for oil paint, this cleaning process will almost certainly destroy the work.

And a closing word of advice: the reason some people choose watch repair as a hobby is they lack the patience to do art restoration.

Good luck.

Yours,



Dear Mrs. Biddington,
At a garage sale, I found a wonderful old drawing. But it's rather dirty and perhaps has had some water dripped on it. What is the best way to clean it?
Yours,
Lauren

Dear Lauren,
It is for good reason that the value of an artwork on paper--be it a drawing, a watercolor or a print--is closely linked to its condition: works on paper are very difficult, sometimes impossible, to clean or restore.

Perhaps, a kneaded eraser could be used to carefully remove a small blemish or bit of grime. Otherwise, simply smooth the drawing with the assistance of a mat and enjoy it "as is".

Yours,



To delve further into the complexities of painting cleaning, restoration and the technical underpinning of works of art, try these sources: Helmet Ruhemann's "Cleaning of Paintings" & Mayer's classic art students' materials manual "Artists' Handbook" .