Mt. Sanford and the Copper River Basin is a successful rescue project.
I started the piece years ago in a Spokane basement studio and it was almost finished. The studio was a favorite hangout for some nasty spiders so we had regular pest control. At the time they used a spray and while I saw the potential risk, and asked the service person to be careful, I didn’t follow my intuition and move the piece. The result was bug spray dripping into the pastel. There was no point in being upset at anyone but myself since I clearly didn’t listen to the discernment prompt.
Fast forward ten years.
It’s been sitting in my studio and I have no idea why I didn’t put it to rest in the recycle bin since it looked pretty bedraggled with nothing left to lose. Decided to experiment to see if I could reclaim the work. Sprayed a couple of coats of Spectra Fix Degas Pastel Fixative lightly over the surface and the droplet evidence disappeared. Normally, I don’t use a fixative on any pastel work, yet this allowed me to go back into the nearly completed painting and revive it to the point I’m happy with the result. Since I don’t know to what extent the insecticide affected the archival quality of the work this will remain in my personal collection.
