An older, very nice gentleman named Paul Haner, who is the head of the department of Conservation at SLAM met with the class about how he treats paintings that are damaged. He showed us several pieces that he had been working on, or was in the process of working on.
Without writing too much about it here were my impressions:
1. Fixing someone else's paintings in a basement with no sunlight would not be my idea of a great career. It takes someone really patient to do that.
2. Will I go back to my old ways of painting? - which means using an acrylic gesso on a nicely stretched canvas, and then painting with my new medium which I concocted with the help of Victor. By the way, it IS a secret recipe.
I have thought long and hard about #2 as I paint through the Van Eyck and one thought keeps going through my head, and that thought is this: "I can't paint like this".... or "this is not the kind of painter I am". I like to draw, and correct and then paint over the corrections, and leave the initial marks there showing through in the final results. I think it is really that simple.
Which causes me to pause and say, "WTF am I doing here again in this class?"
You know what? I'm not really sure. The facts though are this:
1. I love going there and being there.
2. I really like interacting with the people there.
3. In relation to #2, I am learning a few things from Doug about my newest obsession which is jewelry. Today, I practiced making jump rings on dowel rods, and annealing and bringing down the gauge of my sterling wire. This is really the kind of thing that is turning me on right now... learning about something totally new, and hands on.
4. I mainly love painting, and any type of painting I feel is good for me. The Van Eyck technique may not be my perfect fit, but I still love paint. Again, very simple.
Hans Mielich- (German- 1516-1573): Portrait of a woman. This was in the care of the conservator, and he had worked on this piece. It will go back on the floor of the museum in 2013. Exciting to see!
Portrait of a Man by Hans Mielich: sorry for the glare...taken with the i phone. This piece was completely bowed and Paul said that a special frame had to be made to accommodate the paintings happy state of curviness. I wish Alex had been with me to see these, and the workshop because I think he would have been interested in the wood supports and the solutions for framing the fixed pieces.
I find it very odd that the portrait is done relatively well, and the background of green drapery is rather contrived. Also, the fur collar seems weird ... but that's just me.
A painting by some guy named: "Guy"-1943. The cracking was so bad around the edges and everywhere, I have no idea what Paul would do with something like this....No, thank you, I'll do my own work and hope it doesn't crack someday.
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