Dealing With Mold Bloom on Unfinished Pastels

By PAH Member Jack Kinkelaar

Years ago I had a problem with mold bloom growing on my finished unframed pastels. I was using Richard McKinley’s method of glueing my pastel paper to a mat board. Many of my pastels had various amounts of mold bloom back then. I had those pieces mounted on the walls with push pins (in other words open to air). I was using archival glue and all the pH balanced products.

Candace Fenander sent me an article (which I posted). Ultimately the article recommended a light spray on the finished pastel paintings of clear athlete’s foot medication as it is an anti-fungal. Believe it or not, that worked. But what really worked was not using regular mat board and switching to gator board. I also stopped glueing my sanded pastel paper to the gator board. I now order (Amazon) my gator board with one side having an adhesive surface. This means less air pockets or glue bumps when I adhere a sheet of sanded paper to the gator board.

I also have an air-conditioner in my studio. I am not using the air conditioner as its so cold, but when it is hot it sure makes the studio more pleasant to work in. I think the climate control of the air conditioner helps with the mold blooms.

I hate to be promoting various businesses but Walmart had the most options on the spray athlete’s foot medication. You have to make sure you buy the clear spray. The white powder spray version will totally mess up your paintings.

I paint with artists in my Friday plein air group who have had problems with mold blooms on acrylic and oil paintings here in Hawaii. So it is not just a pastel thing.