The painting...

 Yes, there is a tale of the painting.. I fell in love with it while looking at the website for this store... it's a junk store with lots of fun stuff in there... most of it is at retail prices, so it's hard to judge if you really should buy it or not, so you better LOVE it before you buy it.  Ya know?  So... I fell in love with this painting when I first saw it here:

It was not the featured item in the shot, but I spied it in the back... along with the one of the far right... but after looking at the far right I have something similar to that already in prints in my office now... that are along that same theme.  So, I sort of already had it in my mind that I wanted that painting AND a wash stand.

And so, it came home with me... 

BUT as I was taking it out I noted a bad repair on the back where the actual repair was peeling off.  In fact there were TWO repairs to this canvas

I didn't take pictures because I was ILL about it... really - to have bought it and not looked closely enough at it... then I had to sit myself down and tell myself that it was really a painting you LIKED... which is rare... and one that you really didn't pay all that much for... and you KNEW it had issues with the frame... so let's just see what we have to do to repair the actual painting too... because you KNOW this happens, you have watched a few documentaries on painting repairs... so, let's just try this!

First repair didn't go so well, we tried it IN the frame... yeah... no... the white repair at the bottom of that black one is one of the original repairs... it was still holding and looked good

I probably put too large a piece of canvas on there as well and discovered I should have used untreated canvas, not one cut off a literal canvas from the craft store.  Ooops.  but I did use Gesso to do the repair and glue it all together...

The result was a bit of a hot mess and a notable white "ring" inside of the repair where the gesso had soaked into the fibers.  Well, crap... and it was a bit bowed around the repair, which you can't see....

So, take #2.  remove the painting from the frame... and put it on a flat surface - the carpet is a sturdy carpet and there is something between the painting surface and the carpet to keep everything in order.

AND we weighted it and wet the canvas first to get it to dry more taunt in the frame...   It worked like a CHARM!  Flat surface to work with... now to get that color adjusted in the patching.

My repair... I should be ashamed of myself for getting so much gesso onto the front of the painting... but hey, you live and learn, don't you?  yep!  you can see the other repair in the lower right of this shot as well...

close up of that repair - obviously someone knew what they were doing on that one!!

another small hole in the canvas that I am NOT messing with!

AND THE REVEAL!!!  

It's a tad noticeable up close... like REALLY close... there is a bit more bright green in there where it should be more muted...but honestly if I wasn't pointing it out, I'm not sure anyone would notice...

further back....

I even dabbed on a bit of darker paint where you could see some canvas on the other repair..

AND from a distance I don't think anyone will be the wiser, do you????

And she’s back in the frame!