What to Do When You Blunder While Painting

I was looking at a progress shot of my Elora painting, trying to work out what more it needs. It wasn’t long before I noticed these ugly titanium white smudges around her ear and hair. I must have had some wet paint on my hand while doing detail work. Not good!

What to do when you make a blunder like this? Let’s walk through it.

There are three key factors that will influence the solution:

It’s an oil painting.
The paint on the surface is dry to the touch, except for the white blunder.
The blunder is around a delicate area (Elora’s face).

First, let’s rule out what I couldn’t do.

I couldn’t blend it in, as the white paint would just smudge and ruin everything. I could only do this if the surrounding colors were similar.

I couldn’t easily lift the paint with a palette knife, as it might spread the paint and make the damaged area larger.

I couldn’t leave it be, as it looks completely out of place. (With minor blunders, you can get away with leaving it be.)

The solution I went with was to dip some paper towel into odorless solvent and gently dab it onto the surface. This diluted and lifted the white paint from the surface, without ruining the work I had already done. Painting saved!

Of course, this only worked because the oil paint was dry on the surface. If the surface below had been wet as well, I would have needed to try something else. And if I had used watercolors, then a blunder like this would probably be game over.

I thought this was a good demonstration of brainstorming your way out of a blunder. They do happen, no matter how careful you are. And how you approach it could be the difference between a finished painting and a ruined one.

Happy New Year!