by Effie Moore Salem

Created on: June 19, 2008   Last Updated: April 29, 2012

Much of today's important art has been restored but it, to be successful, must be a labor of love. Restoring an oil painting to its original freshness after years of neglect having been stored in a too-cold-in-the-winter and a too-hot-in-the-summer attic is not possible; however, you can clean it of years of soil and grime and you can repair it. Maybe these extremes of temperature have caused a crackling of the paint and maybe some flaking. These, in the hands of a capable restorer will be no problem.

In this article I will walk you through the process of restoring a painting and tell you what must be done and what you must not do. But first I want to caution you that if you have a valuable painting, and by valuable I mean a painting of museum quality or one that will bring in a hefty price on the open market - in other words, a painting with some historical value beyond your own sentimental value - these you must have repaired and restored by a reputable professional. The paintings we are talking about in this article possibly have sentimental value and little else.

I will also tell you truthfully that while I know of the process of oil painting - have worked in it years ago - I have never restored a painting. What I have done is I have wiped off old paintings with a wet rag and I just learned while researching on line this was wrong, wrong, wrong. Using any kind of moisture is to risk having your paint disengage itself from the canvas. The professionals call this adhesion failure.

What not to do while restoring an oil painting:

• You do not use soap and water or any other household cleansers on your painting.

• You will not be using linseed oil, glue removers or any other household remedies such as a raw cut potato, or bread to clean your painting. While white soft bread may be alright to dab off soot from a above the fireplace painting, you certainly would not be hanging a valuable piece of art work in such an area.

As I said, if your painting is valuable, get professional advice about how to clean and restore it and learan how to properly care for it.

Step 1:

Take a picture of your painting with all the dirt and grime still on it. Take several in fact. If an area is of particular concern, take a close up of it. This picture will not only be your guide as you remove the dirt, it will help you restore an area should you inadvertently remove some paint. It will also be a reminder of what an excellent job you have done.

Step 2:

On a sturdy

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