Take best care of your oil painting
If in case you're an artist by yourself, you probably do not need to read this as your would perhaps already know it. The information given here is for the first-time art buyers to give a basic understanding of how to take best care of the original oil paintings they might have bought and chosen to live with.
You may not believe it, but most non-artists are not aware of the fact that oil paintings require special attention and cannot be just treated as a piece of furniture. When ever you buy an oil painting you need to know the basics of caring of the work
Oil paintings are most dear to people as you might have purchased for the lifetime. The Art collectors must always keep in mind that artists work are great and it means more than just a commodity. It is a piece of the artist's soul.
Here are just a few basic rules-
These instructions will sound very simplistic;
Don't ever lean the front or back surface of stretched canvas on any pointed or sharp objects, no matter how small it could be. This would leave a dent, which would spoil your oil painting, and result would be annoying and upsetting the artist who spent so much time creating it. If you require leaning it against something, then leaning it on the wood of its stretcher bars so that nothing damages the canvas.
Prolonged exposure to direct sunlight would fade the colors in your original oil painting. Please be aware of this while choosing a place for your painting.
You might desire to dust your painting often, so that a thick layer of dust does not build up which would dry out the paint and probably result in cracking and hard peeling. Do not spray anything (like pledge) on the oil painting. Dust with a soft or any dry cloth. If the surface of your oil painting looks dry or dull, you might want to have it further varnished. Most artists would also offer to varnish the work. Varnish is a defensive surface which would not only improve the image, but would keep the surface intact and safe from cracking.
Never expose your oil painting to intense heat, intense cold, or to intense humidity.
If something awful happens to the oil painting (i.e. it may crash down on someone's head and gets a big gash in it), bring it to an expert conservator who could fix it properly. Never do it yourself! Bring it to someone who knows what is actually to be done. The artist would appreciate it.
If you ever require or desire to get rid of the work for any reason, always contact the artist, who must be informed of the work's new location so he or she could update the work's origin records. Never, ever devastate or throw away an original oil painting!!! If you totally can't keep it for any reason, offer to give it back to the one who created.
