PAINT RESTORATION OF MESMERIZING

I saw this on Twitter. He’s using acetone, but a cellulose ether has been added to make it into a gel (probably Klucel—this entire gel mixture is sometimes just called Klucel by restorers, but Klucel is specifically the stuff that makes the gel). 

Normally, acetone is too volatile for restoration, but when it’s a gel, it becomes very stable and a) stays on top of the porous surface of the painting, and b) won’t evaporate. So it can eat up the varnish.

It looks scary, but acetone has no effect on oils, and jelly acetone is even less interactive with the surface of the paint or canvas.

I really wish he would post a longer video, just like how to get the gel off the canvas? That seems like it would be an Ordeal

You would normally not do it like this. He’s definitely going for drama here.

This is usually a much slower and more careful process. You brush a tiny bit on and wipe it back off with a q-tip. Over and over, and usually working in areas of the same color.

Also, he probably has a lot of confidence in what’s under there. He would have researched to make sure of the type of paint, the kind of varnish used, and doing test spots, etc. In many cases, the varnish stripping can take off paint, too, and then true restoration occurs, which is when you have to actually repair the paint. :O