Water colour painting kept on a yacht

gertha

gertha

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I have a large wooden bulkhead that I would like to put a painting, by way of decoration , on.
By happy coincidence I also have a painting which I would like to use.
The problem is painting is a watercolour , will it be damaged in a marine environment? What is best way to frame to maximise protection ?

My thought is change glass to Plexi or similar, silicone Plexi to frame, this protects front from water ingress and maximises strength. Do I vent back of frame or try to seal completely. Do I introduce Silica (spelt wrong) to absorb moisture; but know I will never have the discipline to remove and dry.

As a plan B, could use an oil painting. If plan B is only option , any advise on best practice for an oil painting on a yacht.

Yacht is used between 0 and 55 N or S, could be laid up in Tropics for a season.

Simon
 
We have a few pictures up including 2 paintings but they are oil. 3 years in the prints seem fine in their frames too. None are of great value.
 
The only way round the foxing issue would be a sealed frame with desiccant embedded. Double glazing is built that way, with Argon gas as well, perhaps the painting could be housed in a double glazed panel?
 
Second the advice to put up a print instead, but if you really want the original I’d be thinking more about spray-on coatings than trying to turn the frame into an airtight box.

Pete
 
prv said:
Second the advice to put up a print instead, but if you really want the original I’d be thinking more about spray-on coatings than trying to turn the frame into an airtight box.

Pete
Click to expand...

I would be very wary about any spray on coating which is very likely to darken the colours and change the texture and would be irreversible. An oil or acrylic painting would be better.
 
We have a few paintings onboard. had them professionally framed using 'museum grade glass'. apparently it protacts against UV. No damage to date- longest time is ten years on one. Our boat is very dry and it even survived in the tropics. We are full time liveaboards which i think helps keep the boat atmosphere pretty constant.
 
Expanding on savageseadogs idea why not sandwich the painting between two sheets of glass sealed around the edges with silicone then mount that in a custom frame which will have to have a deep rebate cut to accommodate the double glass.
 
petehb said:
Expanding on savageseadogs idea why not sandwich the painting between two sheets of glass sealed around the edges with silicone then mount that in a custom frame which will have to have a deep rebate cut to accommodate the double glass.
Click to expand...

Most frames designed for a canvas would be suitable if this was the way you went, but on a boat I'd prefer acrylic to glass.

I'm used to seeing foxing in old paintings and prints where it appears to be caused by the quality of the paper (albeit exacerbated by a humid environment); modern acid free watercolour paper should be fine.
 
petehb said:
Expanding on savageseadogs idea why not sandwich the painting between two sheets of glass sealed around the edges with silicone then mount that in a custom frame which will have to have a deep rebate cut to accommodate the double glass.
Click to expand...

Because condensation behind the glass would make the water painting run years before it would otherwise fade from mildew?
 
I can see the attraction of having a good quality painting on show, but if I wanted one I would contrive to make it readily removable and take it home in the winter. Another significant factor might be UV light. Some modern boats admit a lot of light into the saloon and this could be rapidly deleterious.
 
I have used an artists spray fixative to fix pictures in pastel to stop smudging and water damage with negligible change in colour. This may be suitable for watercolours if used lightly with a couple of coats, this would stop any possibilty of the paint running.

If you are going to mount your picture do so with acid free mountboard as the acid in cheap board will lead to foxing (brown spots) even on acid free paper.

Have you considered getting a good quality scan done of the painting and then a print produced on watercolour paper.
This keeps the texture and would give you the option of using paper thicker than that of your original painting so any wrinkling of the paper due to moisture would be considerably less.
You could have more than one copy made so that you can swap if any damage does occur, this would also mean you can keep the original safely away from moisture and UV light.

Whatever you decide I hope enjoy your picture.
 
Thanks for info from different people.
The picture is 20 x 38 inch, think that makes it expensive to scan; but have no idea. Any on any idea about size and cost of scan and print.
The picture is of some birds, so rather than scan and print maybe just buy a poster with a bird on it. Think Athena used to do quite a pleasant one, however it was a different sort of bird and was playing tennis so poss not appropriate.
Basically I have a few acres of teak vener that need to be made more pretty, if my watercolour is going to suffer and a picture of a bird scratching her arse is going to get me in trouble, need some bright idea , Laura Ashley wallpaper is not an option before anyone suggests.
May have to start a new thread on how best to jazz up an expanse of wood that helps to keep the boatin shape.
Simon
 
You could photograph the picture and print from that. This would need some care. You would need flat lighting. Some of the best photos from prints I have seen were done by a photographer who always used outdoor lighting on dull overcast days. This would give fairly neutral colouring, but would probably need some adjustment, easy enough in the right program. If taken from some distance, the rectangular shape should come out reasonably true. A print onto matt paper might look adequate at a small scale but a print onto art paper would be better. I have had prints done locally and they looked very good at A2, for about £15 each.
 
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