The Skateboard and Canvas Incident.
‘Water Shortage’ was destined for an exhibition in 2018. And it nearly made it, if not for the undeniable rip in the canvas.
The painting sat in the back of my car and on the way to the exhibition at the Lobethal Woollen Mill, I picked up my son from his girlfriend’s house. My son jumped in the car and threw his skateboard into the back — through my painting.
Devastated, I took the painting to Anne, my art-guru at the Mill and was more than a little surprise when she said, ‘we can just about fix that’ ! So my son and my guru worked together with water, canvas, PVA glue and magazines for ballast.
How did they do it?
- Wet (with water, ironically) the back and front of the painting around the rip to stretch the canvas.
- Cut a plain or spare piece of canvas into a size that will cover the entire area of the rip.
- Paste the spare canvas thoroughly with PVA glue, on one side only.
- Turn the painting over to the back and place the spare canvas, PVA glue side down, over the rip on the painting.
- Carefully check that all edges are smooth under the canvas, without folds. Particularly from the front of the painting if you can.
- Place some heavy books or magazines over the patch of canvas on the back and leave to dry.
- It should be mended and ready to hang the next day.
To my relief it worked – not necessarily to exhibition standard, but definitely to my kitchen standard. Now this nearly-exhibited painting bares the scars of life, but tells a tale of remorse, collaboration and forgiveness 🦋.
