An interesting aspect to working as an artist is that one never knows what type of commission is just around the corner. To demonstrate this fact, I was asked recently, to restore a pair of seriously damaged (very old) religious oil paintings. To say that I was surprised is putting it mildly. Yes, I work in oils, but renovating old, damaged paintings, even the thought was something of a challenge.

These had been hung in a local church and at some point in time had been seriously vandalised (knifed right through) and so were in a rather "disasterous" condition.

I have to admit that at first sight my heart quailed as the repairs seemed to be an impossible job, but I am made of sterner stuff....
After careful consideration, I decided they were repairable - to a point - but that the repairs would pass muster.

Finding the various paints, additives, primers and varnish was a rather time-consuming task. However, this proved to be a useful exercise as it brought me into touch with a very wide range of interested and informative suppliers. All of these people were very interested in the project and were able to supply me with exactly the products I needed for the work in hand.

It took me quite a few weeks to carry out these repairs. The canvas fabric was very fragile and the damaged areas had to be backed with the same type of material (sourced, luckily for me, locally) before I could commence with the infilling, painting and varnishing of the paintings.

I was very pleased with the results and so was the Mayor and the community - very important here in France - and the two renovated works are now back in their rightful places in our local church.

What goes around comes around is a very old and very wise saying. For me, the act of renovating these works, for which I asked no fee, has resulted in several commissions and not one, but two Exhibitions.