Removing water stains from oil on linen painting in progressApproveRejectUn-ApproveSubscribeUn-Unsubscribe
Question asked 2019-07-17 01:47:35 ...
Most recent comment 2019-08-14 19:52:34
Oil Paint
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Dear MITRA,
I am about to resume work on a large format oil on linen diptych after it had to be placed on the back burner for a few years. At my previous studio, I had some mysterious leaks or perhaps a humidity condensation issue that periodically dripped a pale, thin brown liquid from various areas of the ceiling. After moving to a different space, I discovered that some of this liquid had apparently hit the floor in front of one of these large oils, and then splashed back up onto the lower area of the painting. Luckily the drops were so small that the linen was not damaged, but a series of small water stains/rings were left behind. I tried to gently clean them off with a touch of distilled water, but that wasn't strong enough. OMS worked better, but once the OMS evaporated, you could still see a fainter trace of the whitish-looking rings. Should I try artists' rectified turpentine, then wipe away the turps residue with OMS? If any micro-pores were opened up in the paint as a result of using the stronger solvent, it might increase adhesion anyway since the paintings have been waiting for so long for me to complete them. Please let me know how you think I should best proceed.
If it matters, I am using oils made with walnut oil, and initially used a solvent-based alkyd medium, then a walnut/alkyd.
Thanks very much!
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Moderator Answer
(brian baade)
That sounds fine although I am not positive that the results
will be that much better, perhaps the greater solvency will prove beneficial. It
could not hurt to test a small area to make sure that the turp does not bite
into the paint before proceeding. I would not expect it to but it is best to
test first.
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Moderator Answer
(brian baade)
The idea of “biting in” is a bit simplified and suggests a
simple roughening of the surface. If you do begin “biting in” you are
disrupting the binder and that can be a problem However, in this situation this
is both unlikely and probably not a huge deal as you will be overpaining. As
long as the stains are truly water stains and not some organic or oil-soluble
material, you should be able to overpaint them without bleed-through. Water
stains are often an accumulation of the impurities in the substrate that are brought
through by the water in a chromatographic manner and are left at the edge tide
line when the solvent (water in this case) evaporates.
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Moderator Answer
You may be better served by gently wiping the surface with a mildly damp sponge and after that has dried, follow that with the mineral spirits. Most non-oily (non-organic) components are going to be more water friendly, but this approach come at it from both angles. As you experienced better results with the organic solvent there is probably some fatty component in the stain. Again, as this is your painting and you plan on overpainting, I feel more comfortable with the proposal.
Brian Baade
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