Varnish absorption

I am working on painting from XIX century (said the owner, but I do
not think so) and I have reached the point where I have to varnish
the painting in order to do my retouching but I have a problem that
I have never had before. The absorption of the varnish is completely
abnormal and randomly distributed. The painting is painted on a
linen canvas (from XIX century) with oil colors, painted probably
around 1930-40. Because of use of an oil drying agent the painting
has cracked everywhere. It has been restored once already and the
conservator before used a very glossy varnish (probably dammar) and
the solution was very high.

Here is what I did and my problem:

    Removed the old varnish with a solution of ligroin, ethanol,
    methylethylacetate (equal volume of each solvent)

    Removed the canvas from its auxiliary support

    Restretched the canvas and relaxed it in a wet chamber (80%
    humidity) for 12 hours in order to close the cracks and to
    obtain good tension.

    Consolidated the cracks and the painted layer with fish glue

    Filled the missing paint layer with plumbing material with
    Modostuc

    Revarnished, using Regalrez in white spirit, 15-17% solution,
    applied with an air spray system

But here is when the problem began. The absorption is completely
abnormal and there are even glossy spots that should not be there;
Regalrez is a resin that gives us satin effects.

On the same day I did 3 other varnishings that did just fine, so the
problem is not the material but something on the painting, maybe
even something I used.

I am thinking of using the same method as the conservator before and
to varnish with dammar, but I am not sure. Has anyone any ideas?


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 25:44
                   Distributed: Monday, April 2, 2012
                       Message Id: cdl-25-44-026
                                  ***