Oil Painting Canvas

Oil Painting Canvas

How to repair small tear in canvas oil painting?

Tear is about half inch. How would it work to paint same color on the underside?

If you are very, very meticulous, you can mend the tear to invisibility -- museums do it all the time.

The first part of the mending is fairly simple and straightforward.

You will need to buy a piece of canvas (to make a patch) that is slightly larger than your tear, and a get a type of glue called "Tacky" Glue. You can buy both items in an art or craft store

1.) Take off the frame off the painting if it has one.

2.) Find a flat, smooth hard surface to work on and cover it with something that will protect both the surface and your painting, yet will not stick to your painting. Either a clean shower curtain liner or even clear plastic wrap -- like the kind you use to wrap up food -- are both ideal.

3.) If your painting has a frame, remove it.

4.) Cut a piece of canvas slightly larger on all sides than your tear

5.) Follow the label instructions on the Tacky Glue and glue the canvas to the reverse side of the tear, making sure that everything is smoothed out.

6.) Put a heavy book on the patch and lean on it. Then remove the book and look on the right side of the painting to see if any glue has leaked through, and if the tear is perfectly glued down.

7.) Clean up any excess glue from the front side of the painting, making sure that the tear is perfectly smoothed down. Reglue if necessary.

Also, clean up any glue that was left on the covering of the surface you're laying your painting on.

8.) Lay the painting back down, wrong-side up and put the book back over the mended tear. Let sit overnight.

9.) The next day, turn painting over to the correct side and repaint the mended tear using a thin coat of paint.

10.) You will now re-create the texture of the canvas.

11.) Put a small amout of Tacky Glue on a piece of aluminum foil.

12.) Using a straight pin or a long nail, dip it in the glue and "paint in" the missing canvas threads, leaving a raised line where the canvas threads would have been before the tear happened.

13.) Wait 24-36 hours, depending upon the thickness of the glue. You may have to repeat step 12 if the glue shrinks too much or you didn't apply enough to begin with.

14.) Paint over your glue lines to match the painting.