I have seen people suggest using a kneadable eraser to lighten their drawings before painting over the top in oil paint, in a similar way to dusting off excess charcoal.
I would be concerned that the eraser could leave some residue.
Can I have your thoughts on this?
Ron Francis
Thanks for the link Kristin.
I think my main concerns would be the vegetable oil, mineral oil and antioxidents, but as Mathew pointed out, It would have to be an insignificant amount of oil otherwise it should show up when used on paper.
Of course the antixidants mixing with the paints wouldn’t be great either if there was enough of it.
Hopefully your collegues will respond with something less speculative.
Ron Francis.
Thank you Kristin, much appreciated.
I hadn’t thought about abrasion and polishing, which I didn’t think would occur with a kneadable eraser unless it was rubbed against the surface rather than pressed.
I hope it’s OK to post links to a couple of these PDFs at the “Painting Best Practices” facebook group?
If plasticizers in kneaded erasers could deposit on artwork in significant amounts, in my opinion we would be seeing oil stains while erasing on sensitive papers. According to studies I’ve seen, among commonly used erasers, kneaded rubber performs best in terms of avoidingparticle residue on a fabric surface, better than gum (bread), Pink Pearl, and Vinyl. Kneaded rubber has, however, been shown to cause more color change and alteration of surface on unprotected cotton fabric, but I doubt that’s an issue with primed canvas.
So I am posting a link to the Conservation Wiki associated with the American Institute for Conservation (AIC) for works of art on paper. I am presently reaching out to our colleagues in paintings conservation on this matter as I am sure there have been recent studies on this topic as it pertains to the treatment of easel paintings. But here is the link that I mention above: http://www.conservation-wiki.com/wiki/Surface_Cleaning#Kneaded_Erasers
I would tend to agree with Matt on this one. However I am posting a couple of links below that do suggest there may be color changes that can occur down the line…The “age” of the Groomstick also appears to matter in the sense that older erasers may tend to leave behind more residues according to this study: http://resources.conservation-us.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/8/2016/09/osg011-03.pdfAlso check pages 23-25 of this massive document assembled by the paper conservation community some years back: http://cool.conservation-us.org/coolaic/sg/bpg/pcc/14_surface-cleaning.pdf
Also….my paintings colleagues have forwarded me this interesting chart. While there are no long term studies associated with aging, etc. some of the information may prove useful to some interested in the immediate effects/composition of various dry cleaning products used on easel paintings.Keulen-2012-Drycleaning-table.pdf
Ron PLEASE feel free to post links where ever you wish 🙂
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