Posts by Strazza Art Restoration

Family portrait restored

Posted in Art Restoration

Family portrait restored

This nice painting came to us not long ago, and it looked like it needed some serious restoration. The canvas was in good shape, and thankfully it had not been through something terrible like a storm or fire. That said, it did have quite a thick layer of nicotine, or possibly years of cooking oil, or both, that we needed to deal with. At first glance we thought the painting was very thin on the canvas, but after our normal testing of the canvas and paint, we came up with our best way to clean this heavy gook, and in time we uncovered a very healthy painting with quite a different look than...

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Elegant portrait

Posted in Art Restoration, Featured

Elegant portrait

This lovely painting came to us from a local woman who has had this portrait in her family for generations. The painting itself is beautiful, but it needed some serious attention, and it was a very delicate, if not fragile, painting to work with. Among other issues, paint was chipping, and there was a strong layer of grim that was hard to get through and remove from the painting surface. It always takes testing and patience to safely find the right way to work on a painting like this one, and Lisa did an amazing job with this elegant portrait. The final result was stunning. Before...

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Old Hunting Painting Restored

Posted in Art Restoration

Old Hunting Painting Restored

This valuable pre 1900’s oil painting has an interesting story. A couple, who had paintings restored by us before, were looking to buy this Hunting painting at auction. They sent a photo of the painting before the auction ended, and then called asking if we could restore it. It’s hard to answer a question like this just from a photo, but we encouraged them to purchase it if they loved it, and from what we could see, we believed we could restore it. They won the auction bid and purchased the panting, and soon after brought it to us. Of course, as things so often go, the painting...

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Interesting old photo restored

Posted in Photo Restoration

Interesting old photo restored

This very cool photo was sent to us from someone who has had it for many years. It was originally thought to be a tin type. That said, when I got it in our studio I saw that it was not a tin type, but at first inspection I didn’t know what it was. The photo was framed in a metal round frame, with a ribbon eyelet. We scanned it right away because the rips were fast becoming a serious problem all by itself. We restored the photo as we usually do, and when the final print was made, we had permission to try to remove the photo from the frame to see what it was and how it was all put...

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19th Century Family Heirloom Portrait Restored

Posted in Art Restoration, Featured

19th Century Family Heirloom Portrait Restored

This lovely portrait was brought to our attention by a local Southport customer in the St. James community. This painting has been in their family for nearly 200 years, and the subject is a family member. It’s a large painting at 3×5 feet, and of significant historical value. As you can see from our “before” photos, it was in terrible shape. The painting had a few rips, and it was severely covered with a dark substance that had probably built up for generations. Often times it’s smoke buildup, but we had to do some testing to see what it was and what would clean...

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Waikiki Sailor Photograph Restored

Posted in Art Restoration, Photo Restoration

Waikiki Sailor Photograph Restored

This beautiful 8×10 black and white photograph of a sailor was sent to us by a wonderful client that has worked with us before. It’s a very precious family photograph. As you can see this print was probably folded at some point, maybe because it had to travel from place to place, but I really don’t know. Either way, it was in rough shape. You can see by the close up image below that being folded was not the only problem, the surface of this photo was really damaged too. This one was a challenge for sure, but we did our best and the final print was lovely. We don’t just...

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Two wooden plates restored

Posted in Art Restoration

Two wooden plates restored

We us ally restore paintings or photographs, but sometimes something different is brought to us. In this case it was two beautiful wooden plates that needed some cleaning, in-painting and more. Sadly I do not have the before photos on hand but I do have that after. So for what it’s worth, they were in real need of some care and did not look like these after photos. But these two photos show just how beautiful these plates are in their restored state. Hopefully I’ll find the original before photos so we can show the difference. But I love these so much that I just wanted to show...

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Restoring Patched painting

Posted in Art Restoration

Restoring Patched painting

This painting came to us with a previous restoration. Unfortunately the restoration was done improperly with small canvas patches glued on the back (with animal hide glue) to repair rips in the canvas. Glue is not a good thing and causes problems for future restorations.   Painting before restoration   Canvas back showing the glued areas after we removed the canvas patches. The glue unfortunately went straight through to the paint and could not be removed.   Back of canvas after relining.   Showing damage on the front of the painting.   Showing damage on front of...

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Beautiful seascape with tear restored

Posted in Art Restoration

Beautiful seascape with tear restored

This beautiful seascape oil painting came to use with a large tear in the canvas. It also needed some cleaning, but the tear was the big problem. It is an old painting which was also somewhat brittle and delicate. A relining was needed to bring some stability back and make it more feasible to repair the tear.

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Two 1840’s Oil Portraits Restored

Posted in Art Restoration, Picture Frame Restoration and Repair

Two 1840’s Oil Portraits Restored

This husband and wife set of portraits from the 1840’s were brought to us by a couple from the Southport area. The paintings had an interesting history and were ready for a much needed restoration. They were in oval frames with glass on top which was unusual for an oil painting, but as we looked into the history a bit it seemed clear that someone had cut the paintings to oval shape and simply placed them in frames with glass. The paintings were seriously embedded with years of ash, probably from a wood stove. The ash is acidic and did some damage to the portraits but it could have been...

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Smoking damaged painting restored

Posted in Art Restoration

Smoking damaged painting restored

This painting came to us very grimy and embedded with dirt, and smoke damage. The owner told us that this painting hung in a bar for many years back when smoking was allowed. It looked like someone painted a caramel color all over it. Here is a fun time lapse video of about eight hours of cleaning time, all into less than a minute. https://strazzagallery.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/PaintingRestoration.mp4.mp4   Finished restoration below: The painting came out really well, and looked like the artists original intentions were brought back to life, and the owner of this painting was...

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Baby chicks painting restored

Posted in Art Restoration

Baby chicks painting restored

This adorable old oil painting of baby chicks came to us in pretty bad condition. The canvas was extremely fragile. It had a pretty good size tear, and the surface was embedded with dirt. Beyond that it was probably in a room with a fire place or smoking, or both, which made for more damage. This painting absolutely need a re-lining because it was too fragile; it would not handle being stretched for framing. Re-lining is when we support the painting with a new canvas from the back. The cleaning, while delicate, went very well, and the re-lining gave extra support to strengthen the painting....

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Saying Grace painting restored

Posted in Art Restoration, Picture Frame Restoration and Repair

Saying Grace painting restored

This lovely little painting came to us, and it was entitled, “Saying grace.” It is a tiny painting about 5×7 inches. It depicts an older man sitting to a meal and simply saying grace. It is an old oil painting and it had some problems as you can see from the before picture. There was some chipping, and also a moldy film all over it. It needed a deep cleaning and in-painting. It was delicate, but it came out great. Lisa antiqued a new frame to give an age appropriate look; it is shown restored on the after photo below.    ...

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Historic Ship painting Restored

Posted in Art Restoration

Historic Ship painting Restored

This was an antique nautical painting that came to us with some patches on the back due to holes in the canvas. The paint was starting to crack, and it was quite dirty and in need of a total restoration, cleaning, and re-lining. Here are some before and after photos. We also replaced the old frame that came with the painting with a lovely gold frame that seemed more appropriate for the age and subject matter of this painting.   Painting framed, as we received it, before restoration.   Back of painting showing damage, and a couple of patches, before restoration.   Closeup of...

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Small photo restored and enlarged

Posted in Photo Restoration

Small photo restored and enlarged

This great black and white photo of a sailor with a plane came to us by a family member of the sailor. It is a small photograph, about 3×5 inches at most. It was very distressed and in need of restoration, but the customer also asked if we could also enlarge it. In this case the answer was yes, because it was so sharp. Here are the before and after photos. The final larger print was stunning, and made a great gift for this family. We enlarged it to 8×10 and it looked great. Before restoration   After restoration  

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Art Restoration – Serving North Carolina

Posted in Picture Frame Restoration and Repair

Art Restoration – Serving North Carolina

Painting and photo restoration in North Carolina, serving the Southport area, including Wilmington, St. James, Oak Island, Bald Head Island, and Myrtle Beach, and beyond. We restore oil paintings, acrylic paintings,and photographs. We also restore picture frames. We also restore watercolor paintings, but not in all cases. If you have a piece that needs restoration you can reach us two easy ways: 1. Call or write to us, and send some photos of your piece for a rough estimate. Give us as much detail as possible, and include sizes. You can then bring the piece to our nice (and private)...

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Cleaning an Old Painting

Posted in Art Restoration

Cleaning an Old Painting

This is from an on site restoration. I was hired by a company that specializes in church restoration to clean and repair these old paintings in a church in NYC. It was of course a huge on-taking. And, while you may not have paintings this big in your home (these are 6 x 18 feet) these do show what cleaning reveals with an older painting. Cleaning after a fire, flood, even after years of smoking is important to preserve your painting. Take a look at the results below; these show an amazing difference, and it was even finished yet.    

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Seascape oil painting restored

Posted in Art Restoration

Seascape oil painting restored

This painting came to us from avid collector in NYC. It’s a lovely painting, about 100 years old, that had an unknown history. This particular painting was very dirty, and probably spent a lot of time, years, over a fire place; but one never really knows. As you can see from our testing (first photo), that this painting really cleaned up nicely. We did a thorough cleaning, some in-painting where needed, and a final varnish. The result was significant, and a happy one for our good customer. If you have a painting or photograph that needs restoration in any way, contact us: Strazza Art...

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Moving damage to art and insurance claims

Posted in Art Restoration

Moving damage to art and insurance claims

Many people are moving to Wilmington, Southport, and St James Plantation, NC and in the process paintings and art pieces sometimes get damaged. We often fix paintings or frames that got damaged by movers. We repair the rips, or tears in the canvas and sometimes the broken off or missing pieces of the frame.   We also receive a lot of paintings or family photographs that are damaged by smoke or furnace puff backs or in some cases mold due to a plumbing problem or flooding. In any of these cases you need to take care of it ASAP, because the more time you take, the more damage will occur to the...

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Art Restoration now available for St. James Plantation, NC Residents

Posted in Art Restoration, Gallery News

Art Restoration now available for St. James Plantation, NC Residents

Now residents of St. James Plantation near Southport, NC can have their paintings and photos professionally and lovingly restored. Strazza Fine Art Restoration (formerly from NY) now serves the greater Southport, NC area which of course includes St. James Plantation, NC. Take a look around on this site to see what we offer. Please call or write if you have a painting or photograph in need of restoration. In home consultations for larger pieces. Pick up and delivery service available.   #Art Restoration St. James Plantation, NC  

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