watercolour

[blobby02uk]

How can I tell if a watercolour painting is real or a print?

[gammaray]

Look extremely closely at the picture. A print will be made up of dots (if it's a litho print) if it's a digital print it's slightly more trickey but turn the picture so the light reflects off it. If the watercoulour is genuine there will be an "interuption" in the way the light reflects of the surface as the light plays over the paint.

[blobby02uk]

Thanks gammaray. I have recently found a watercolour in my late fathers belongings. It seems really old, much too old to be a digital print!! I have taken it from the frame, which was rather difficult as the picture was held in by tiny pins, and the picture is on a type of board rather than paper. Does this make any difference?

blobby02uk

[blobby02uk]

.....also, some of the paint seems slightly shiny.

[gammaray]

You may need a magnifying glass or magnifying lupe to get close enough to the image to see if it's made up of dots or not. You can concievably paint a watercolour on any surface but clearly some surfaces require a lot more preparation than others in order to be able to take the paint.

It sounds like your watercolour may be genuine, particularly as you say some areas of paint are shiny. This will happen when the painted surface abraids with another surface over time. This won't happen with a printed surface. However the fact that the painting is genuine is no guarantee that it has any significant value. If your interested in it's origins etc you could do worse than contact an art dealer or art apraiser.

[blobby02uk]

Thanks again gammaray. I took the picture to Bonhams today, and it's a photographic print!! Bootfair, here it comes!!!!!! Cancel the cruise!! lol

[gammaray]

In that case the shiny areas will be oxidising fixing agent. (particularly noticable in shadow areas) There is still a ready market in old photographic images, particulary if its an old bromide print that has been hand dyed with colour.