BBC The Repair Shop expert Lucia Scalisi was left struggling to fix a painting during a recent episode of the restoration programme – branding it a miracle it was still being held together.
On Wednesday night, Mark and Diane White from Fife entered the barn with the hope of their Amateur Dramatics club canvas being restored.
Putting the canvas down on the table for Scalisi to take a look at, Mark explained: “Yes, it’s from our drama club in Leslie in Fife. Leslie Amateur Dramatics Club.”
His wife added: “Mark is chair of the club and I’m the secretary. We think Leslie Drama is the oldest continuously performing drama club in Scotland.”
Delving further into the history of the canvas, Mark continued: “The club was actually set up in 1904, in the town hall in Leslie and their first performance was actually in 1905.
“They had the rehearsals rooms at one end of the high street and the town hall at the other. So all the scenery and all the parts of the stage like this were carried down the high street.
“And this sat above the stage in the very centre for everyone to look up at when they were waiting for the play to start.
“We believe this was painted in about 1950 by a gentleman called Andrew Hurd, who was chairman and did virtually everything in the club for a period of about 50 years. “
Scalisi wanted to know more about the painter, leaving Diane to reveal: “He was a painter, a scenery creator, an actor, a director. We still have members of the club today who remember Andrew and remember him putting it above the proscenium arch above the stage.”
She went on to reveal that she and Mark met at the drama club and fell in love, getting married in 2010 and continuing their love of drama.
When asked what they wanted Scalisi to do with the canvas, Diane admitted: “Just maybe getting it looking a bit less sad I think, as soon as you touch it the paint is coming off. “
Taking the canvas back to her work space, Scalisi began to worry about the restoration and admitted: “It’s all torn along the bottom here, I can’t restretch it, so what I am going to do is strip line this bottom edge.
“That’s adding another piece of fabric on the bottom that will allow me to be able to pull this around the wood and then after that the retouching.
“There are some big scratches and losses here, but my first approach has to be the consolidation of the flaking paint. It is actively flaking so I can’t really do anything before it is re-attached.”
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The painting was causing drama for Scalisi and she revealed: “We have got a lot of crumbling and there’s a lot of loss in this bottom area in particular.
“Because this canvas is so rough, for this paint to still be attached to it is nothing short of a miracle to be honest.”
However, when it was time for the couple to return and collect their painting, Scalisi had managed to pull it off, with Diane exclaiming: “Oh my goodness me!
“Isn’t that just amazing! You can see so much more of the colour now! You can’t quiet take your eyes off of it, it is incredible.
“It’s just seeing the difference in it from the time that we found it, it’s just brilliant.. I just love it, thank you.”
