Dear Donia,
How can I remove water marks from an old painting?
Q. Dear Donia,
I have a Farnsworth 'Brown Bear' Heritage Gallery Prints, 1974 that has water marks on it after a fire. I've removed it along with its copy tagged "Man exists in search of peace, Nature lives its essence. Iwogene H. Farnsworth" Is it possible to clean up the water marks at all? Thanks, Steve
A. Dear Steve,
It may be possible to clean the staining but it would take testing and may take something other than water so I would not recommend trying it yourself lest you set the stains in further. The best thing would be to have someone knowledgeable look at the piece in person. You should be able to find someone at the Arizona State Museum or they can refer you to someone.
I hope this helps.