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Hang on Studio Wall
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Larry Reynolds

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Posted
I see artists who post on social media say that they had to ‘wipe’ a board or a painting was a “wiper”. Whilst I presume this means they used a rag etc to wipe the paint off what I’m interested to know is, can the board be used again? If so does it have to be re-gessoed or can the paint be smudged into a ground? Would this be more difficult on a canvas board than on say a MDF board. I’m thinking tooth of the canvas?? Thank you in advance

Sylvia Evans

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Posted
No reason why not to use again. Yes a canvas would accumulate paint in the fabric, just re gesso it. Decent watercolour paper can also be washed under running water , that gives an interesting background to a new painting.
With Sarah, Phil, Ellen, Rose the dentist, and the granddaughter whose name I forget.

Robert Jones, NAPA

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Posted
Oh, we're all poor ...... If you have to scrape the paint off a canvas or board and start again, you will be far from alone, and as Sylvia says, it's not a problem. What IS a problem is painting over old oil paintings, but the key there is the word 'old'. Scrape it down as far as you can go, take a kitchen towel and a touch of turpentine to get the residue off, let it settle for a day or two, and start again. Turpentine is preferable to 'low odour' thinners, white spirit, or Zest-it - being a resin, it's better for the paint, though not necessarily better for your lungs. When you go back to the board, paint thinly, not necessarily with thinners, to start with, and build it up in the usual way. Or, having scraped off as much as you can, take a bit of turps and wash it over the board to give yourself an imprimatura. Let it dry to the touch, and then start in on it again, and better luck next time.