Mounting drawings

[Jimmie Arroyo]

I was wondering if mounting a drawing would do anything to the value of it?

[Sharon Knettell]

Never put anything in direct contact with a charcoal or pastel drawing. Actually, NO drawing as there is always the possibility of it smudging or static removing some of the material.

Kimberly in your case, the glass should not have been placed in direct contact with the pastels. And yes, the pastel WILL come off with the glass. If you expect to sell these pastels, you would have to have them re framed properly. That would mean removing the glass from the pastel surface, and retouching the pastels before reframing. I know this from experience. A gallery owner took two of my smaller pastels (for me) to show to someone in their home.
She placed them side by side in her car VERTICALLY so the pastels fell against the glass. I had to take them to my framer to have them re framed and the glass cleaned. I also had to retouch the pastels. She now wants to have a show of mine!

As to attaching them to a harder surface, they have what are called acid- free hinges and tape for that. www.nycentralart.com .
Use an archival board or foam-core.

And WHY are you showing things you don't much care about?

As to the future value of a mounted piece, I consulted the drawing department of The Rhode Island School of Design Museum. They said if it was properly done. ie. proper archival backing adhesives etc. it was OK. It was important to go to a knowledgeable framer, not your local chop-shop. They had photos that the had had for years that were perfectly fine. I asked them for a recommendation of a local framer and the name they gave me was fortunately the one I was using.

[Kimberly Dow]

Sharon-

I said I SAW some pastels - they weren't mine. Slow down girl!

[Sharon Knettell]

Mea Culpa Kimberly.

I couldn't get online for two days and was reading everything VERY quickly!

[Holly Snyder]

Interesting info. everyone. For what it's worth, I did try spraying a test piece of paper with several coats of the Krylon spray, and the pastel did not come off when I rubbed it with my finger.

Sharon,

I posted the drawings in the drawing critique section. As you can see, they're nothing to be framed or anything. I'm trying to get faster drawing so that I would be able to start working from life. One of the major things I learned from looking at the paintings in the MET this last week, was that I would never get where I wanted to be without being able to paint from life. Hey, what a novel idea!

I had fun drawing however, and thought I could offer drawing as a lower cost option. There's a small local show coming up tomorrow, in which everyone is displaying their work on easels. My easels are all taken up with paintings, so rather than framing these, I thought I would put them in the clear, flat bags, off to the side, for people to browse if they're interested.

Thanks to all,

Holly

[Sharon Knettell]

Holly,

Did the pastels darken?

Painting from life. The way to go. I look at some of my portrait samples I did before I decided to work more from life. I cringe. You have no idea how it will improve all aspects of your work.

Tip: Go slower in the life class than you think you should. Take a lot of deep breaths!

[Laura B. Shelley]

Just for reference: I've mounted a few pastels on museum board using rice starch paste. You can also use wheat starch paste or good dextrin glue. This method is completely archival and reversible, and what's best from my point of view, it's really cheap and can be done at home! If anyone wants to see the procedure, I'd be glad to post it.

I'm not an expert by any means, but every art conservation site I've seen that mentions the subject expresses doubts about dry mounting and about all types of foamcore board, including the type that's sold as archival. Apparently foam outgasses in a way that may have deleterious effects. Dry mounting is not reversible and uses chemical ingredients that may degrade paper over time.

Now, I have no idea of the time scale we're talking about here. Of course things like ordinary matboard can stain paper in just a year or so, but that's the worst possible stuff around bar corrugated cardboard. I don't have the impression that foamcore is going to eat your work for lunch while your back is turned. I've often used it for a backing board when I'm framing pastels, though I always hinge the paper to museum board first. But I wouldn't permanently mount anything I wanted to keep indefinitely to a foamcore backing. (And you'd have to threaten to play Barry Manilow's greatest hits in an endless loop to make me frame a pastel right up against the glass, but that's a different story.)