Restoring The Faceless Painting - Part 3
Summary
TLDRThe video, sponsored by Squarespace, follows an artist's meticulous process of retouching a painting with a missing face. After months of preparation, the artist embarks on the challenging task, emphasizing the importance of setting up for success in any endeavor. Using Squarespace as an analogy, the artist highlights the platform's user-friendly features that simplify website creation and business management. The artist then shares their technique of starting with 'low hanging fruit' to build confidence and assess the painting's requirements. With the help of their assistant, Kit, they demonstrate the delicate balance between restoring the artwork and maintaining its authenticity. The process involves multiple passes, stepping back for perspective, and making adjustments over several weeks. The video concludes with the successful restoration of the painting, showcasing the artist's expertise and the value of patience and experience in achieving a harmonious result.
Takeaways
- 🎨 The video is sponsored by Squarespace, an all-in-one platform for building websites and running businesses.
- 🖌️ The artist discusses the challenge of retouching a painting with a missing face, emphasizing the importance of setting up for success in any creative endeavor.
- 📈 Squarespace is praised for its user-friendly features like mobile-friendly templates, no-code setup, and easy editing, which contribute to the success of a website.
- 📚 The artist uses the technique of addressing 'low hanging fruit' first to build confidence and momentum in the retouching process.
- ⚖️ A balance must be struck between restoring the painting and maintaining its original feel and authenticity.
- 👀 The artist highlights the importance of taking time away from the work to reassess and make necessary adjustments with a fresh perspective.
- 🤝 The value of collaboration is demonstrated through the artist's assistant, Kit, who contributes her skills and learns complex techniques.
- 🔍 The artist used reference images and inlay techniques to recreate the missing face, starting with a base that closely resembles the original painting.
- 🔁 The retouching process involves multiple passes, stepping back for analysis, and making incremental adjustments over time.
- 🌟 The final varnish is applied to protect the painting, provide UV protection, and unify the sheen across the artwork.
- ⏳ The entire retouching process is described as time-consuming and meticulous, requiring patience and a deep understanding of the original artwork.
Q & A
What does the video sponsor, Squarespace, offer to its users?
-Squarespace offers an all-in-one platform that provides tools and features for building and managing a professional online presence. This includes website and online store creation, marketing tools, and analytics.
Why does the speaker emphasize setting up for success in tasks like retouching a painting?
-The speaker emphasizes setting up for success because proper preparation increases the likelihood of achieving desired outcomes. In the context of retouching a painting, being well-prepared helps ensure the process goes smoothly and increases the chances of a successful restoration.
How does the video describe the approach to tackling difficult tasks in the studio?
-The approach involves starting with easier tasks ('low hanging fruit') to build momentum and confidence before tackling more difficult areas. This method helps in gauging the feasibility of proceeding with more complex tasks at that moment.
What role does Kit play in the retouching process described in the video?
-Kit is an assistant who is involved in the retouching process as part of her learning and development as a conservator. She is depicted as having a significant role, contributing her skills in color matching and paint application.
Why is it challenging to recreate the missing face in the painting?
-Recreating the missing face is challenging because it requires a precise balance between making the retouching look seamless and ensuring it does not appear too new or overly restored. The conservator must mimic the original artist's style and maintain the authenticity of the painting.
What technique is used to start the retouching of the face in the painting?
-The technique involves using thinned-out paint to create a semi-transparent layer, allowing the underlying sketch (inlay) to guide the initial application while maintaining visibility of the original strokes and colors.
What is the significance of periodically stepping away from the retouching work?
-Stepping away helps the conservator gain a fresh perspective and critically assess the retouching work. It allows for adjustments to be made with a clearer, more objective view, improving the accuracy and quality of the restoration.
Why does the conservator decide to add artificial cracks to the retouched face?
-The conservator adds artificial cracks to make the retouched areas blend more seamlessly with the rest of the painting, enhancing the authenticity and preventing the retouched sections from standing out.
How does the final varnish affect the appearance of the painting?
-The final varnish is used to unify the sheen of the painting, providing a consistent finish across all areas. It also adds a layer of UV protection to preserve the painting's colors and details.
What was the role of the Hermitage in the retouching project?
-The Hermitage provided photographs of the original version of the painting from their collection, which helped in accurately recreating the missing face and ensured that the retouched version remained faithful to the original artwork.
Outlines
🎨 Setting Up for Success with Squarespace and Art Restoration
The video introduces the partnership with Squarespace, an all-in-one platform for building online presence. It emphasizes the platform's ease of use, with mobile-friendly templates and no need for coding. The narrator discusses preparing for the challenging task of retouching a painting with a missing face, highlighting the importance of setting up for success in any endeavor. The video also touches on the process of art restoration, using the painting as a metaphor for tackling difficult projects and the satisfaction of achieving success step by step.
🖌️ The Art of Retouching: A Step-by-Step Journey
The narrator delves into the retouching process, starting with the less challenging areas to build confidence and assess the painting's original techniques. The importance of finding the right balance between preserving the painting's aged appearance and repairing damage is stressed. The video also showcases the role of an assistant, Kit, in learning and executing complex conservation techniques. Kit's skill in color matching and paint application is highlighted, and the video ends with a teaser about the upcoming challenges in the retouching process.
🔍 The Nuances of Restoring a Masterpiece
The video details the meticulous process of retouching a damaged painting, emphasizing the need for multiple passes and periods of reflection between work sessions. The goal is to achieve a balance between capturing the original painting's details and overall feel. The narrator discusses the limitations of working from images rather than the original piece and the challenge of making the retouching feel like a natural part of the painting. The video also hints at the use of inlay as a technique to assist in the retouching process.
🎭 The Reveal: From Torn Canvas to Restored Glory
The culmination of the retouching process is showcased, with the painting's transformation from a torn canvas to a restored work of art. The video describes the final steps, including the application of a protective varnish to unify the sheen and protect the painting. The client's reaction to the restored painting is one of astonishment and gratitude, emphasizing the value of preserving art. The video concludes with a discussion about the ethical considerations and techniques used to recreate the painting's missing face using a reference from the Hermitage in Russia.
🏆 Achievement Unlocked: The Completed Restoration
The video concludes with the client's satisfaction and approval of the restored painting. The narrator reflects on the successful outcome and the joy of giving the artwork a second chance. The importance of sharing art and the fulfillment derived from restoring it for future generations to enjoy is emphasized. The video ends on a note of accomplishment and the shared appreciation for the restored painting's new lease on life.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Squarespace
💡Retouching
💡Conservation
💡Color Matching
💡Inlay
💡Reversible Paints
💡Glazing
💡Varnish
💡Archival Ink
💡Authenticity
💡Hermitage
Highlights
The video is sponsored by Squarespace, an all-in-one platform for building online presence and businesses.
The artist discusses the meticulous process of retouching a painting with a missing face.
Success in retouching is compared to setting up for success in other areas of life, emphasizing preparation.
Squarespace is praised for its user-friendly templates and features that eliminate the need for coding knowledge.
The artist uses the technique of addressing 'low hanging fruit' first to build momentum in the retouching process.
The importance of feeling good about initial progress before moving on to more difficult areas is highlighted.
The artist emphasizes the no pain no gain motto does not apply in art conservation.
The process of retouching involves understanding the artist's original palette and paint application techniques.
The assistant, Kit, is commended for her rapid learning and application of complex conservation techniques.
The artist discusses the challenge of adding reversibility to the retouching process to maintain the painting's authenticity.
The use of inlay and the first pass of paint is described as a method to get a head start on retouching.
The artist describes the iterative process of retouching, involving multiple passes and periods of reflection.
The balance between capturing the original painting's details and overall feel is discussed as a significant challenge.
The artist reflects on the importance of the retouching blending with the original painting to create a unified piece.
The artist's experience and intuition play a critical role in determining the 'feel' of the retouching.
The final steps of the retouching process, including the addition of cracks to blend damage, are detailed.
The application of a final varnish to protect the painting and unify the sheen is explained.
The client's satisfaction with the completed retouching and the painting's transformation is expressed.
The artist shares the story behind the painting's acquisition and the motivation to restore it.
The collaboration with the Hermitage in Russia to obtain reference images for the missing face is mentioned.
The final result is described as a faithful homage to the original painting housed in the Hermitage.
Transcripts
this video is brought to you by
Squarespace from websites and online
stores to marketing tools and analytics
Squarespace is the all-in-one platform
to build a beautiful online presence and
run your
business after weeks and weeks in fact
months of work I'm now finally ready to
tackle a thing that has been racing
through my mind in my dreams haunting me
around every corner of the studio the
retouching of this painting and the
missing face and because success is no
foregone conclusion I've tried as best
as possible to set myself up for it and
though you may not be retouching a
missing face there are places where
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domain now because I do have to retouch
a missing face I'm going to start by
picking some loow hanging fruit this is
a technique that I've used throughout my
conservation work and throughout my life
and it's one that allows me to notch an
easy Victory because even though it's
easy it's still success and it begets
more success so if I'm able to retouch
the face here well and feel that it's
going well and that my color matching is
on point and that I like how I'm working
well then I can feel good about this
painting and I can start to move on to
more difficult areas if this isn't going
well then I know that it's not the right
time to do retouching I'll step away and
find something else to do in the studio
I won't try to force my way through it
the no pain no gain motto doesn't work
here or in life anybody who tells you
that is just misleading
you so by working on this painting and
just tackling some of these little
losses I can start to feel my way
through this retouching and start to get
a sense of the pallet that the artist
used how they applied paint and what the
painting is supposed to look like
because remember I'm going to have to
make a lot of decisions about how much
to retouch I don't want to go too far
and retouch every little Mark on this
painting and make it look flat and new
but I don't want to leave a significant
amount of marks and make it look damaged
there's a fine balance between leaving
some things like abrasions and cracks
and covering them all up and so working
on an area like this allows me to test
different approaches and figure out the
one that I think is going to work
throughout the entire painting and then
I can move on to the rest of the
painting while kit joked that I had
volunteered to do all of the retouching
on this painting she's not totally
incorrect I have included her in just
about every step of the process it's
part of her learning some of these more
complicated techniques and becoming a
better conservator and also me of not
doing some of the stuff I don't want to
do having an assistant is great because
you get to teach them learn from them
and give them some of the dirty
work over the many years that kit has
worked here she has proven to be an
invaluable resource in just about every
aspect of conservation and retouching is
no exception she has an incredible sense
of color and a depth laying down of
paint and you can see here how she's
maneuvering through this skinned area
with real Grace and sensitivity not
glazing in the whole area but working
through just to break up the losses so
that it still feels old and authentic
without feeling damaged and
broken and this is something that comes
with years of experience at least it
took me years of experience kit has
responded to this incredibly fast so
fast that I'm shocked in fact but it's a
testament to her skill the way she
learns and maybe maybe maybe how I've
instructed her no I think it's all
her anyhow she's working through just to
break up all of this damage in an area
like this where the entire face has lost
its glazes it's really tempting to want
to repaint it and while reglazing is not
a verboten technique in some instances
like this one we could very easily argue
that because all of the glazes have been
lost and because we're using reversible
paints it makes sense that we would Reg
this painting but if we can avoid that
then we will now if ultimately we do
have to do some glazing we can add it
later but for now kit is doing such a
good job of breaking up this damage that
I don't think we're going to need to in
fact maybe kit should just do the whole
painting how about
that and while I'd like to have Kit just
do all of the retouching and I can sit
back with my feet up scrolling on the
internet that's not how it works
but I'm also really excited to challenge
myself with this to see how the inlay
worked to see if it's a viable solution
I think it's going to work but I'm not
sure and we're going to find out as I
start this retouching now ultimately the
inlay and the image is really only good
for the first pass of paint I'm using
paint that's a little bit thinned out so
it's a little bit transparent so that I
can see through it but you can see that
once paint goes down the under image or
under painting as it were disappears and
then it's up to me so this technique
isn't a Panacea it's not going to do all
of the retouching for me it's just going
to get me onto let's say second base
give me a head start so that I don't
have to start from scratch and really
it's the the form and the shape and the
volume that I'm looking to capture here
I have some images of this painting set
up on either side of the easel and I'm
looking at those while I'm doing the
touching to see how the highlights go to
see where the Shadows are just to have
another reference you can see that this
image is also a little pixelated it's
not as high resolution as I would have
preferred so I'm working with a couple
of other images that are smaller so they
appear higher resolution they're not as
you know broken up and
blurry then you can see that I'm kind of
inching my way towards the complicated
part starting off with the neck and then
the ear and then the cheek I'm really
kind of avoiding the Eyes Nose in mouth
because they're going to be really hard
and I want to again pick the low hanging
fruit try to give myself the best
Advantage now this is going to take
several passes and over the course of
this retouching I'll work a little bit
then I'll step away then I'll come back
and do a little bit more then I'll leave
it for a day or two and the retouching
of this face took a couple of weeks not
because I wasn't moving through it with
speed but because I needed time I needed
time away to take a more analytical
brutal look at the retouching that I had
laid down the day or week before to look
at it without rose-colored glasses and
to say well that didn't work so well so
let's come back and change that chin or
add a highlight here and it's slowo
goinging there's no easy way about it
you work a little bit you step back you
come back you reassess you work a little
bit more step back come back reassess so
on and so forth and what I'm trying to
do is get the forest and the trees
correct and by that I mean I'm trying to
get all of the little details but I'm
also trying to get the overall feel and
that's a real hard balance because I
don't have the original painting I have
images but I can't see the
original and trying to capture a feeling
I mean that's like trying to capture
lightning in a bottle it's almost
impossible so I'm doing the best I can
to work on making this face come
together but also to make it fit with
this painting because copying the
original might not be the right answer
it might fall flat so there's a delicate
balance between simply replacing what
was lost and making it feel unified and
again this is one of those things that
comes with tons of
experience the first time I did
retouching of this caliber I thought it
was great it looked great but my father
told me it didn't feel right I didn't
really understand what he meant until
many years later that something can be
color matched correctly it can blend in
but it can not be in accord with the
overall feel of the painting and it's
really hard to describe feeling but you
know it when you see it something just
matches it fits you don't see it as an
addition you go right past the damage
and everything comes together not only
does it get rid of the damage but it
complement the painting and so that's
kind of what I'm going for but like I
said it's a long road and it takes a ton
of time
[Music]
l
[Music]
I
[Music]
after a lot of passes on the face more
than I documented on video and more than
I've included here what we've seen is
just the first few passes it would have
been too much to capture all of it
really who wants to see weeks of
retouching I I know all of you but I
don't so this is what we got something
stood out to me when I looked at the
retouching it felt flat and I realized
that the cracks were missing so I had to
paint them in and I know it seems crazy
almost sacrilegious to un butiful clean
retouching paint damage but our job as
conservators is to make the damage
disappear to blend in and so in this
case adding these cracks painting them
in instantaneously takes an area that
your eye would jump right to because it
didn't fit to one that you go right
past now doing it on the body was pretty
simple doing it on the face well that
was a whole another level of
nerve-wracking because of course if I
mess up here I'm going to have to do a
ton of work to correct that mistake but
as I started to add these cracks the
face started to settle in it started to
feel natural it started to belong to
this painting and the retouching didn't
seem so pronounced now I have a few more
tricks up my sleeve with this face but
you're going to have to wait until the
end to see
it and after several weeks of retouching
this painting is complete and it's ready
for its final varnish and in this case
the final varnish is really mostly being
used to protect the painting give it an
Ultra Violet layer of protection and
also to control the sheen the retouching
and the first coat of resin I laid down
are a little uneven some spots are
glossier than others and some spots are
matte and that's not what we want we
want a unified sheen on the entire
painting and so I've mixed up a varnish
according to what I think is best George
trusts me implicitly and said just make
it look
great and now I'm applying it with my
spray gun and I've chosen to apply it
with the spray gun because it's a big
painting and I want a very thin very
even coat and I can get this with the
spray gun maybe a little bit better than
I can with the brush it's also just
simpler and I can move faster without
worrying about the varnish drying in
addition there are a couple of tricks I
have up my sleeve when I'm using the
spray gun that can modulate the sheen if
I find that it's too shiny like spraying
from higher up and letting some of the
resin dry as it settles on the surface
but in this case everything went very
very well and the application of the
final varnish was pretty simple so now I
can let it dry and return it to
George remind me George when you brought
this painting in I think it was August
of last year yeah right so a fall we're
approaching a year almost um we had some
delays and setbacks but suffice to say
this was quite a project to undertake
and I remember asking you in the
beginning what prompted you what you
know streak of insanity drove you to buy
a painting in this condition without the
face and I think you had said something
about what did you say that there was
something in it that needed to be
released there's something that needs to
be released that that needs to be um let
go there's a lot of story in it there's
a lot of history in it and it's just
it's really cool I wanted to figure out
why she was being taken out of the cave
or where she was at
and which direction she was looking at
and I figured be the person to do
it well yeah so it was I mean it was a
ton of work but you knew that we knew
that we had a couple of assists along
the way and I'll tell you about those in
a minute but uh I'm presuming you want
to see the painting oh God yes and not
the piece of canvas anymore huh not
anymore no all right I've been looking
forward to this for a while well let's
see
it wow
little bit of a change yeah just a
little it's
it's the face pops out a lot more than I
thought I have to say out of all the
ones that you have done this
is most impressive thank you this is
astounding for what you had to work with
because it was just in such a bad shape
I'm usually not one for no words but I
this this is
just I'm astounded on how well it turned
out no face to no words huh pretty much
it's just it's just I mean the
expression is perfect yeah you can see
the anguish and the agony in her face
and and the and the faces here on the
left where they're trying to struggle to
K her her from him like honestly I know
there was a lot to do I just cannot
remember how bad I I would love to look
at the photo and compare it to that cuz
it's just holy cow
right well
so that's what we started with
yeah yeah there's that big terar there I
remember when across the whole en the
whole painting was torn in half this
went all the way through it was really
in four or five pieces all of this was
disintegrated I mean it was just my God
I every bit of it was honestly I don't
know what possessed us to say yes to
this I just knew it had to
be given another chance it was just it
wasn't worth someone just disposing of
and it had to be saved you had you had a
feeling I thought you were kind of crazy
I I've been crazy but um on some of my
purchases but yeah this one definitely
not this was
something how did you figure out what to
do with her missing face yeah well I
mean I think back when we first saw it
we talked about all of the problems that
it had and how those were kind of those
were challenges but kind of wrote for us
we've done that many times before for
you too but the the elephant in the room
was the missing face and I think I
teased that I had a couple of ideas yes
you did yeah we were able to reach out
to the Hermitage in Russia who has the
original and um they pulled it from
Storage cuz it's not on display for me
and they took some photographs of the
piece some medium resolution photographs
and they they sent them to me which was
really really kind of awesome that they
were were willing to do that um and then
we took that and we printed it onto a
piece of canvas in archival ink and then
inlaid that canvas into the void and it
took a lot of manipulation on the
computer to get the color to get the
shape um because it didn't fit perfectly
it wasn't like a matching puzzle piece
but we wanted to use the original as the
basis for starting so that we I wouldn't
be led astray so that I had something to
work from so in comparison this to the
original that's in the
Hermitage it's true the form it is this
is a copy of the one that's original so
the artist took Liberties uh and you
know I I overlaid the original on top of
this one and you know slight things are
in different perspective you know the
faces are a little different but you
know this as it is now is a faithful
homage to the to the original that's in
the Hermitage perfect that was the goal
is get back to way it was supposed to be
right from its original creation right
to be enjoyed for many many more years
to come
well not here I want you to get this
thing out yes very much sick of looking
at
[Music]
it it was amazing it was something that
we've been looking forward to for a very
long time and when the curtain was kind
of dropped it yeah it was worth the wait
definitely worth the wait very
[Music]
impressed hopefully that after I'm gone
many more people can enjoy
it that was the whole whole point behind
art is meant to be shared and seen by
others when I'm looking for art to
either save or collect and add to the
collection that little voice in my head
always says is this something that
Julian can fix face or no face or
missing half the canvas this is
definitely something jul confin
what do you think I did
good I think she agrees
[Music]
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