Very gloomy picture. Looks even worse in reality.

The artist should have called it a day and come back when the sun was shining.

 

Hi AF,
Just a gloomy looking sunset that needs cleaning. I think there is a heavy yellow varnish or nicotine. I bet if it was cleaned it would be a delightful painting.
greg

 

How should it be cleaned? I doubt AF wants to spend the money to have it professionally done. Denatured alcohol on a rag? What's a good way to get the darkening/grime off of it?

 

Mineral spirits will probably take off the easiest grime, but when you start using stronger solvents you are in danger of damaging the paint surface. You have to be very careful and patient.

 

Are those people in the background, left of center? Or buildings? Would help to know the scale.

 

I was told to use my spit. But that's a heckuva lot of spit!

 

I am usually attracted to gloomy paintings for some reason and like this a lot. While it probably could use a cleaning, It appears to be a night (or early dawn) scene so can't imagine it is overly bright.

When cleaning paintings, I usually start with plain distilled water and move up the scale from there. Next step up is a little ammonia in the water, rinsed with clear water afterwards. I sometimes will use as much as 25% ammonia for stubborn soiling. If you are getting color on to your q-tips, your solvent is too strong. I work in small patches with q-tips, then go back and even everything out with an quick overall wash. You always have to be careful not to get the painting too wet so that the paint remains adhered.

Mineral spirits usually doesn't do much but won't generally hurt the paint. Old yellowed varnish is tough to cut. The ammonia will do it slowly but I sometimes use harsher solvents carefully to advance progress. This is something that takes a bit of knack to do, so don't recommend people do it without some practice on old paintings of little value. Once clean, you have to re-varnish to bring the color back out.

I find most 20th century paintings pretty easy to clean. When you get in to some of the older paintings, the paint seems less able to withstand cleaning. For some reason, old browns seem particularly vulnerable. I won't even attempt to try and clean most 19th century paintings of any real value.

I learned to clean paintings from an old book on the subject and lots of practice over the years. There are probably better methods employed today by those professionally trained. I have heard some recommend the painting cleaners sold by the art supply companies but have never tried them. I have some paintings I cleaned and varnished over 10 years ago and they have remained in good condition so I must have done something right.

 

Brad: I have what I call my non-primitive painting, Hudson River style. The sky over the water is pink dissolving into blue. The odd thing is, that in the morning, one thinks it is a sunrise painting; in the afternoon, sunset.

The painter is not talented enough to have achieved that effect on purpose...but there we are!

 

Thanks for the tips.I doubt if I have much to lose by trying a cautious tickle with something a bit less aggressive than a brillo pad or a jetwasher.

Have one in the shed that is so dark the only way you'd know it was a painting is because it is in a frame.

 

I keep hearing the song "Sunrise, Sunset" in my head now.

 

I've seen a fair number of amateur paintings that have been improved by yellowed varnish. It gave the paintings an atmosphere that would have otherwise been lacking.

 

wow brad. Thanks to you for posting the great information about how to clean a painting. I've bought one recently that is very yellowed, will probably be relatively attractive if I can get the gunk off. I'm going to try your ammonia suggestion. The painting was pretty inexpensive so if I ruin it I'm not going to cry. Maybe I'll post a "before" and "after". You'll either be in awe of my skills or laugh at the end result! Win win!

 

I have a gloomy painting I bought years ago.Very dreary called the Skellig Rocks of Ireland,has one lonely flying gull. I have always beem a bit melancholy,in my songs and poetry too

 

This one looks even blacker in real life.

 

WOW,looks like lava attacked it

Here is a pic I did of homeless man I saw all the time years ago. Even in the summer he was all bundled up.

 

I have cleaned up the first picture a bit. Nothing clever, I did it in Photoshop.

 

And the almost black one, just a little

I have a trial version of Photoshop which I have not had available for a while so I will be playing around with enhancing pictures. I know I used to be able to see very dirty ones with brown varnis almost as painted with some fiddling.

 

Hi AF,
See that sunset looks better. I really like it.
greg

 

I think with real cleaning it could be improved beyond the electric cleaning.

 

Brad,
Is there a way to clean the paintings without having to revarnish? I want to clean it but dont' want to go that extra step, plus I have no idea how to varnish. Thanks!