STOP GASPING

We have proudly inherited this painting from Tim's family.  Thanks to Google, we have learned quite a bit about the artist and his other works.  It has some slight damage and REALLY needs a good cleaning.  I'm itching to clean it myself.  I know, I know, I can hear the gasps.  The coating of "age" finally got the best of me so I lightly rubbed an ever so slightly damp cloth to the upper left corner.  I felt an invisible slap on my back of my hand.  The wrongness of my behavior was conflicted with the excitement of revealing the more vibrant aqua blue sky underneath.  Can you see the difference?  To bring my guilt up a few notches this story about a lady who decided to restore this priceless 19th century fresco of Jesus came out.  If you haven't seen this story it was all over the news and you must take a minute to watch...absolutely entertaining.  When Tim saw it he started laughing and couldn't stop. It was a Jeff Lewis (from Flipping Out) kind of laugh. 

Okay, so I took it as a sign from above and scheduled an appointment with an art restoration company here in San Diego.  He promptly verbally slapped my hand for my part in adding to the demise of this masterpiece, then slapped me with a quote of $1500 to do it himself.  So do you ever feel you should have chosen a different career path?  I go through those thoughts every time I choose a pair of eyeglass frames.  Anyway, just so I don't make the national news I have temporarily hung the painting.  Figured if the before of this famous fresco hung in a Spanish church for a couple hundred years and it's condition only bothered one poor soul, I can live with mine a bit longer as I save my pennies.