Inpainting

Meenakshi Devi <meenakshi2258 [at] yahoo__co__in> writes

>I am an art conservator working in New Delhi, India.
>Could some one tell me which resin to use with dry
>pigment colours when inpainting an old unvarnished oil
>painting. Water colour paints are not acceptable to my
>client as they come off when the painting is cleaned.

Could you not advise your client to dust the painting regularly
(with a soft brush, of course), but not use aqueous cleaner on it?
If you can't use watercolour, you can try dry pigment in Acryloid
(Paraloid) B72, which is fairly matte. I've also used dry pigment
with Soluvar Matte varnish, if the solvents in B72 are unacceptable.
If the inpainted areas are still not matte enough and are small, try
a very light coat of Renaissance Wax.

Alternately, make up a tinted wax putty, and fill/inpaint in one go.
For my wax-putty I use a square of wax-resin, a drop of linseed oil,
fine gesso (and rottenstone, except for pastels), and dry pigment. I
melt it all together on Mylar over a hot iron, and apply it with hot
spatulas. There must be enough filler not to have it melt on a hot
day. Softening may be a problem in India. I keep blocks of clear,
white and brown putty on hand, as they are easy to modify. Good
luck,

Sandy Easterbrook
Easterbrook Conservation Services
Saskatoon, Sk. Canada


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 17:53
                Distributed: Wednesday, February 4, 2004
                       Message Id: cdl-17-53-007
                                  ***