3 Tips to Care for Your Oil Paintings

When you have a precious painting you want to preserve for a long time to come, naturally you should take precautions in caring for the artwork to ensure no unnecessary damage is dealt on here.

Here are some simple oil painting tips you can follow to help protect your painting from untimely aging.

1. Protect it from excessive light exposure. This is the absolute basic rule you need to adhere to in order to protect your oil paintings. Too much light can damage the paintings by causing the color to darken or fade faster.

Put your paintings away from windows and artificial lights sources, or at the very least, make sure the light exposure can be controlled. Also avoid using lights too close to the paintings to protect it from the heat of the bulb. On the other hand, your paintings cannot simply be stored away either. Leaving oil paintings in the dark for a prolonged period of time will cause the paint to darken.

2. Avoid extreme temperature and humidity. Excessive heat or cold will cause the canvas to expand or contract, thus damaging the paint itself. Oil paint will not last long and can potentially crack and peel off the surface.

The wood panels and stretchers are also vulnerable to extreme changes in the environment. Both the canvas and wood can absorb moisture, which will cause them to expand or shrink depending on the temperature.

In general, the room temperature where the painting is hung should be around 70 degrees Fahrenheit with 45% humidity. Depending on the place you live, you might require a professional to help you decide where to hang your painting while protecting it from environmental changes.

3. Clean the canvas surface regularly. You would want to dust your painting regularly to avoid dirt build up on the surface, which may cause the oil paint to dry out, cracks or peels off the canvas.

Just take a clean and dry piece of cloth and dust the painting lightly. If the painting were left for a prolonged period on time and looks dull, do not attempt to use any cleaning product on it. Simply varnish the work to protect the surface from damage like cracking.

If you bought the painting from somewhere else, ask the original artist or company whether they can help with varnishing the painting. In the case that the painting seemed to be severely damaged, get an experienced conservator to fix it, unless it is your own artwork and you know what to do to repair a painting properly.

Caring for oil paintings is not exactly rocket science, but it does require you some basic knowledge about proper preservation technique. Color degradation and spoiled canvas are just some of the possible damage that could happen to your oil painting if not taken care properly.

Take the precautions to protect your oil paintings from unnecessary harm so you can enjoy and pass it down to you family for generations to come. Or at least, it will still retain its purchase value should you decide to sell it off.