Quality of Materials

PART I: WOGRIN INTERVIEW

Top-grade linen

Years and years ago, 1981, I got into an art show in Prescott, Arizona. While I was taking the paintings out of the van, the wind came up and blew one of the paintings over, splitting the canvas. I thought, "Well, therešs one that's gone." And it was a 24 by 36 inch painting of Arches National Park. I was heartbroken, but those things happen. Someone came up and said, "Therešs a fellow here named David Peters who restores paintings, and he can probably fix that for you." David was part of the committee that was putting on the show. He looked the painting over and said he could fix it and it would be ready when the show ended.
So afterwards, I went over to his studio on Sunday afternoon. He asked whether I would like to see the work he does. He showed me my piece; he had removed the canvas stretchers and laid the canvas on a piece of masonite backed with beeswax. He put that in a vacuum frame and pulled it down, so that all the fibers were realigned. He told me to retouch it; and after I did, I knew where it was but couldn't find it.
He continued to show me around his studio. He was in the process of taking the mildewed canvas off the back of a 17th century Goya. He did chemical analysis of the varnish and the pigments on the front and then turned it over and used solvents to remove the old linen from the back of the painting which now adhered to the mold. When he was done with that, he took brand new linen, stretched it, but beeswax on and turned the mold over with the painting on it and in a vacuum frame pulled it down tight. He put the beeswax on, burned the mold over and then with chemicals removed the mold from the painting. So now you had a 17th century Goya which was attached to a brand new linen.
And he told me at that time, "You're painting on this new synthetic material and you paint better than that. You should paint on nothing but linen because cotton rots. You're a good enough painter, you donšt want your paintings to rot out too soon."
Since that time I have painted on nothing but linen.