[dfxm12]

How do you do this as a hobby? I mean do you buy paintings you think need restoration from flea markets and restore them for fun? Do you have a collector friend who asks you to help with their collection? Something else?

I've done some art handling (transporting from collectors to galleries). One collector asked me if her painting could be touched up a bit. We didn't provide that kind of service (^_^')

[jimnotgym]

Yeah I buy scrap paintings! It takes a long time, and there are a few in process at a time, so I don't need to source many. I'll buy almost anything that is an original oil painting. Most cost £5-10 and are semi-pro level, with horrible yellow varnish on them, making them look rubbish. Cleaned up they can be pretty things. I have a pair of what looked like Scottish landscapes, but researching the framers stamp they turned out to be Canadian, and in a charity shop in the UK! What a thrill. £25 is my highest price to date, which the seller wanted for the old gilded frame. I got the decent quality late Victorian/ early Edwardian en plein air landscape in the frame for nothing! It was so dirty you could barely see it. Looks very different with the filth and old varnish removed.

They end up on my wall. I figured that I would rather have originals that were not quite to my taste than prints of Pre-Raphaelite masters that are a shadow of the real thing. I still have plenty of wall space. When I run out of room I'll move some on. I can scarcely lose out financially! I plan to get in with some dealers for their junk later on.

Learning to remove varnish is a fun thing. It would be very easy to ruin the painting, but fingers crossed it has not happened yet! Each painting is a whole new challenge, with different varnishes and paints.

My next victim has some tiny holes that need patching, which will be a whole new avenue! A never ending hobby