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Message
Posted
I am a single father with a disabled son who loves Babylon 5, he wanted a painting so for a Christmas and Birthday 2 years ago I got a painting done, but we have found a problem.
It has run.
That is the best I can describe it, the paint or varnish has run just like wall paint when you put on too much, whay ????
thank you
Posted
We'd need to know what the paint was before we could even begin to suggest a reason for it running, or whatever has actually happened to it. I could make a guess that it was actually printer ink rather than paint, and that somehow it's got damp, but that's all it would be, a pure guess. Acrylic won't run, the only thing that might go wrong there is if it was painted on an oily surface; various peculiar things CAN happen to oil paint, but it would be unusual; watercolour should be OK provided damp/condensation doesn't get into the frame - was the picture behind glass? On paper?
Can you find out, if you don't know? Or take a photo of it and post it here - that might give us a clue, although even then it could be difficult.
But yes, if you can find the person who painted/printed it, take it to them and show them.
Posted
The likely explanation lies in the lacquer - which may have been applied before the paint had dried out properly. I wouldn't put lacquer over an oil painting anyway, it should be picture varnish when the painting is at least 6 months old and preferably older - any earlier than that and it's prone to cracking, or to moving under the varnish. If the varnish is soft, and unsuitable for the paint, it can "crawl" - which may be what has happened here.
Which is all very well, but then the question is what can be done about it?
Assuming this IS the problem, and it's still not easy to see, only a qualified picture restorer/conservator would be able to do much, and even s/he would have a problem if the situation is that a varnish has been applied too soon - because they'd need to remove the varnish or lacquer to stabilize the paint beneath - I suspect that if that were tried in this case, the paint would lift with whatever has been laid over it. The cost of repairing that, if it is even possible, would be quite considerable - and you wouldn't want to let a keen amateur anywhere near it.
Questions you need to ask the artist are: how long had the paint been allowed to dry before the coating was applied? And what WAS that coating, exactly? What is the name of the product used, and was it marketed to be applied over oil paint? Was it a permanent varnish, or a product called Retouching varnish (which evaporates in time)? What medium, oil or mineral spirit or whatever, was mixed with the paint to make it flow? Take a magnifying glass to it and have a good look - has the paint film actually slipped away from the canvas (or whatever it's painted on), or is this lacquer on the move? If the latter, there's a hope of saving it, but if the paint is just sloughing off the support the only thing to be done is to remove the affected parts and re-painting them (which presents problems of its own). If the coating has failed but the paint beneath is sound, it should be capable of being removed and then re-varnished.
Do you know the artist? Do you know of other people who have his or her work, and whether they've had problems? If so, there may be a problem with his or her technique which needs to be pointed out, leaving aside the issue of recompense to you as the purchaser. If you bought it from a gallery, they should be insured against damage arising from faulty materials or workmanship - an individual artist may not be. It would be helpful if you could keep us informed about this as it all adds to the pool of knowledge on the forum.
Posted
Thinking about this a little further - I'm getting increasingly suspicious of this lacquer: lacquer contains solvents - I can't imagine why anyone would apply it over an oil painting, but if you were going to there should be an isolation coat of some description between it and the paint. Perhaps there was, but it was unevenly applied?
Posted
THREE WEEKS???
Even if it had been a proper artists' quality varnish, three weeks is far, far too soon to apply to an oil painting: an acrylic yes, but never an oil painting. I'm afraid this artist has sabotaged his own work - oil paint dries from the outside in, and over a long period. It will be surface dry after three weeks, but the layers beneath will still be soft and liable to movement against the rigid varnish or even more rigid lacquer. This was an extremely bad idea - there's nothing much you can do to an oil painting that's worse than this short of putting your boot through it.
The only saving grace here is that the paint looks to be quite thinly applied, so it may not deteriorate all over. The one ray of hope apart from that is that the artist did not use lacquer, or a final varnish, but only Retouch Varnish - but I'm afraid I don't believe that's the case: if that's what had been done, you wouldn't have this problem. Sorry, but while it would be just about feasible to remove the lacquer, depending on what it really is, there would be a huge risk of removing paint as well and you could end up with a smear rather than a painting.
Artists who don't understand the materials they're using are doing no one any favours, including themselves. I will try to find out if anything can be done - there are specialist forums I can try - but in your place I think I would certainly tell the artist what has happened, and why, and leave the painting alone in the hope it won't deteriorate further. You might be lucky, but given the alternative is to attempt a restoration which could go horribly wrong I don't immediately see that you've a lot of choice. In your place too - I'm afraid I'd want my money back.
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