Lifting With A Sponge

 This entry was originally posted on Wednesday, November 21, 2012

In yesterday's post, I mentioned that large areas of your painting can be lifted out with a natural sea sponge while being soaked in water.

 

A couple of people asked if this will damage the paper.

I will address that question now.

 

Lifting the paint with the sea sponge will cause very minimal damage to the paper as long as you do not scrub hard.

Most paint will lift easily just by gently washing the sponge over it.

Scrubbing hard will cause more damage.

However, I have found that this is the gentlest method of removing the paint while allowing the integrity of the paper to remain intact.

 

I will admit that most of my lifted areas have been to backgrounds and less important parts of the painting.

(not the focal point and especially not a portrait)

I am not sure if it is the scrubbing or the further removal of the sizing by soaking it in the water,

 but sometimes the removed area will have a softer look to it when painted afterwards.

This can be an added bonus, especially if it is a background.