More on The Sime

So, back in November I got a piece of original S. H. Sime art:* a small painting on wood of a dark waterfall. At first I thought it was simply a dark scene (much of Sime's work having been in black-and-white, with brilliant usage of darkness), but I've become more and more of the opinion that, while probably intended to be dark, it's now darker than it shd be, due to aging of the varnish (it is, after all, just over a hundred years old).  So we're been talking about getting it professionally cleaned before we have it framed, but with one thing and another I've put it off for going on four months now. Enter Janice, who did some online research that led to her driving me up to Issaquah on Thursday, where we dropped it off at a museum-quality art restorer. I was apprehensive to let it out of my hands, and worried that they might brighten it up too much, spoiling the moody ambiance of the scene. But then I'd have to leave it with someone sometime, be it cleaner or framer. These folks seem to know what they're doing, and their procedure seems sound: clean a small spot (as unobtrusive a one as possible) and e-mail me the results so I can give them the go-ahead or call a halt. If the test result looks promising, I'll give them the go-ahead. Then when they let me know they're done we'll head up either to their main locale in Shoreline (where it turns out the actual restoration work is done) or back to Issaquah, view the results, and make decisions about the frame.**

It shd be great. We'll see.

--JDR


* http://sacnoths.blogspot.com/2015/11/my-sime.html

**we cdn't do that Thursday because the appearance of the picture might change enough that what makes a good match now might not with the restored work.