I got this framed art at an auction for $1. It still has it's years old price tag off the hanging wire. Original cost was $149.95. Today the same piece without the frame would run well over $300. It has a deep covering of tar. So deep that the painting looks black in some areas. I've tried cleaning it with a few things in the past. Nothing worked. Cant use solvents. Dish soap could destroy the print. Finally found something that works! It's an enzyme meant to be used on everything from cotton to acrylic. Pet stain remover. Because I don't know the long term effects I can't recommend this. I could wake up in the morning and find $300+ worth of acrylic chips on the floor. But for now it's working wonders. Would like to point out I'm wearing vinyl gloves. This kind of tar can soak threw your skin.
First picture shows the side I started to clean first. Not hard at all to see just how covered this art work is.
Second picture shows the detaining uncovered. I honestly think there's a fourth deer in the water I've never seen before. Still to be uncovered.
The third shot is the area I haven't worked on yet. Going to take an 'after' shot to show all the hidden details of this piece of art.
All together this took over two hours. I've got another two or more to go.
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Wayfinder, they're not paintings, they're prints. ( just learned it's a lithograph. added info at the bottom)
Oil and acrylic paint are different from printed inks and print acrylics. Any solvent would eat away at a print on canvas or wood. Even degreasers can be disastrous. I've looked threw all kinds of vids on youtube. Did all kinds of searches for cleaning prints. Only cleaning paintings came up. Nothing on giclee prints. I'm guessing no one has ever thought of using an enzyme to clean with before. My thoughts were that if there was enough organic matter in the tar the enzyme would dislodge it form the print. Guess that makes me a nerd. ; ) Wish all my experiments were this successful. This print was damaged before I started. Had nothing to loose. Now i do have a print from 1943 that I would love to clean. It's in perfect condition. It's a very dark picture. Kinda have real reservations about trying pet stain remover on something that's actually worth a few bucks.
added,
I looked on the back of the 1943 picture. It's a lithograph. Now I'm going to do some searches on how to clean old lithographs. These are ink base reproductions. There are a few methods I've found to clean a lithograph. One is to use bread crumbs. The other is one part water. One part hydrogen peroxide and a few drops of ammonia. Dangerous as hell. At least pet stain remover wont remove your lungs.
doing research as I get ready to add this post.
Giclee ( pronounced gI clay ) is a high resolution printing process started in the 1980. I'm guessing everything before that are lithographs. So I was cleaning a lithograph. Not a giclee on canvas. It's funny. Giclee will only look good for 25 years. Properly done lithographs will look good forever. I have a late 1800's litho on wood that looks as good as the day it was printed.
OK so this post has probably taken an hour to write up. I've spent over four hours cleaning an old lithograph. Not a modern giclee print. As far as I can tell no one has ever tried using an enzyme to clean these with. I'm going to wait till I find a cheap old litho before trying this again. Before I use it on the art print from 1943.
Wayfinder, turpentine or paint thinner are solvents. I tried using a bit of rubbing alcohol. Real bad mistake.
Over four hours and finally finished! The print is not without damage. Evidently someone had tried to clean it before. Cleaned most of the mountains and sky right off the canvas. Now it looks more like a light foggy cloud cover. The tar stained the print. No way to lighten it back up. The print itself is is eight inches narrower that the original painting. Four inches off each side. My using a small amount of rubbing alcohol mistake. Leaving a whitish area in the lower left corner. Still a great looking piece of art. And no one really comes over to my house and treats it like a museum anyway. : ).
Link to original art work,
link to original art work
Picture is of the artwork back up on the wall. Panting isn't pink. I'll take a picture after the sun goes down to try to get a more accurate color.
IMG_2581.JPG
wow .. well done !