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Accidents happen, especially in the chaos of artwork transportation. Or maybe you got a little careless dueling with lightsabers. At the end of the day, sometimes "ish" happens!
As an active duty family, we move around so much, and so do our friends. After we relocated from Hawaii to North Carolina, a friend of mine made the same journey, but the moving company that handled their pack out tossed a family heirloom painting in a wad of paper with their sectional and a Spider Man action figure.
And here's how I repaired it! (If you have never worked with artworks, please ask an experienced artwork repair person or experienced artist before attempting to repair an artwork.)
Materials
-Unstretched canvas, one side primed with gesso
-Acid free glue (I like Elmer's Glue All, just read the back! Most white glues are acid free.)
-A book the exact depth of your canvas-in-need-of-repair
-Another heavy-ish book
-Glassine or archival tissue paper
-Latex/vinyl disposable gloves
-Quality paint matching in medium and as close to the original artwork as possible
-Scissors
-Pencil
-Paper towels
-Painter's tape
-A flat, clean workspace
-Soft bristled clean, dry paint brush
-Tweezers
-Varnish matching in medium of the original painting
First things first, always wear gloves when handling artworks, especially if the piece is unvarnished like this one. This piece was a little beat up. I took a clean, dry microfiber cloth and cleaned it off. I did have to dampen the cloth ever so slightly and clean some mystery substance off the piece. After a good cleaning, I took a fresh lint roller and gently rolled away any dust from the back of the canvas. It had also been in a handmade frame at some point and had some rusty staples in the sides threatening the face of the artwork, so I used needle nose pliers to gently pull them out.
On a flat workspace, I laid glassine down to protect the face of the artwork, and I measured around the tear from the back of the painting. The tear was around 1.5 inches long, and I needed a patch that would be quite bigger than the tear. On a section of un-stretched canvas, I drew a square with pencil that was about 3x4 inches. Using a roll of painters tape, I traced it around the corners to make even rounded corners and then erased the square corners. Then I used sharp scissors to cut out the patch and then traced the shape of the patch onto the back of the damaged artwork over the tear. This gives me an outline for where the glue will go. NOTE: Using a patch with rounded corners will prolong the life of the patch and prevent peeling over time.
Next I applied a liberal amount of acid free glue to the damaged artwork, being sure to
keep it within the shape of the patch. I also applied a liberal amount of acid free glue to the PRIMED side of the canvas patch.
Using a soft bristled clean, dry paint brush, I spread the acid free glue to the very edges of both the patch and the outline of the patch.
I applied the patch and very gently pressed any bubbles out and used a paper towel to wipe any excess glue away from the patch.
Now, I needed to be sure it looked right on the front of the artwork. Using a book exactly the width of the artwork (it just so happens Gear's of War, Jacinto's Remains is exactly 1 inch thick), I flipped the artwork and rested the patch and damaged area onto the book. Use a cut piece of glassine between the book and the back of the artwork and patch to keep from getting anything in the glue.
Now I have a stable surface to wipe any excess glue from the front with a paper towel, and using tweezers I made sure the threading of the torn canvas was laid flat against the patch and looked even.
After flipping the artwork back to lay on its front, I placed another heavy-ish book (so there is use for college textbooks post graduation) on top of Gear's of War and I left the artwork alone in a room for 24 hours.
NOTE: Although time consuming, leaving the glue to cure for 24 hours is crucial for the longevity of the patch.
After 24 hours, I checked that the patch was firmly secured and flipped the painting over again to work on color matching the front. This piece was originally painted with acrylic paints, using earthy tones like yellow ochre and burnt umber. using a small brush, I did my absolute best to ONLY paint within the patch and a little bit of the surrounding area. This artwork is NOT MY ORIGINAL, so I was incredibly careful not to compromise the original work and keep it the way the artist intended.
This piece had never been varnished before, so the owner graciously gave me liberty to use my best judgement and varnish this piece. As this piece is a family heirloom, I wanted to use Gamvar instead of Liquitex. Liquitex is non-removable and would make any future restoration of the piece impossible. Gamvar is an oil based varnish so this piece required an isolation layer to protect it during the restoration process as the chemicals used to remove old varnish can easily break down acrylic paint.
For the isolation layer, I mixed 2 parts Gloss Soft Gel medium and 1 part water. I mixed this gently and was incredibly careful to apply just a thin layer. After this cured for 24 hours, I was able to varnish with a satin finish using Gamvar.
For pieces that have already been varnished, you would only varnish very carefully over the damaged area, being very careful not to overlap too much.
Tibby was such a beautiful soul and someone I have so much respect for as an artist and relative of one of my dearest friends! I'm so honored to have been a part of restoring her fantastic North Carolina seascape!
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