What is a realistic expectation for the ‘service life’ of a painting? How long can one expect a painting to last when using best practices and reasonably archival materials? We don’t have any definite answers, but we’ll try to put things into perspective for you. The oldest surviving body of work from the Western painting … Read more

Animal glues have a long tradition in the preparation of oil painting supports – as sizes and as an ingredient in traditional gesso grounds. Some of their characteristics have yet to be matched by modern adhesives, namely the tightening and stiffening of the canvas as well as their oil blocking qualities. In a previous Just … Read more

For some time, our recommendation for artists using oils over acrylic has been to work over harder, matte acrylic surfaces and avoid working on softer gels and gloss products. Our intention was to optimize the level of adhesion that would be achieved on a toothier surface as well as avoid the potential for future cracking … Read more

I think we all know the feeling. You pause for a moment looking back towards a house or an apartment, a surround of land or the last vestige of a city’s skyline. It is always a very particular place, a very precise moment. You take things in, a slow deep inhaling of memories, a desire … Read more

Please Note: What follows is an update to long-term testing that we first wrote about two and a half years ago. The original article provides important background and context for understanding the current results, and can be found here: On the Yellowing of Oils Yellowing after 5 years It’s the first rounding of the curve … Read more

This is a common question that we field here in the Materials & Applications Specialists department. The answers are varied and depend a lot on the specific application, performance requirements, and placement or location of the artwork or object. But, before any discussion can begin, we need to define what we mean by the term … Read more