How to Make Your Oil Paintings Waterproof?

Oil paintings are widely used as wall decorations. Recently, waterproof art for hanging on walls of showers and bathtubs have been introduced. The oil paintings can be portraits, paintings, still life or charts such as fanciful alphabets or games. The art work is generally lithographs on substrates such as paper that are degraded by contact with moisture.

The hand-painted oil painting can be protected by encapsulation as described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,536,423, by E. C. Travis. In the Travis patent the waterproofed encapsulated art work is hung on the wall of a shower or tub enclosure by adhesive strips adhered to the back of the art work. However, the strips of adhesive collect dust, grime and are a center for fungus growth. Furthermore, the adhesive tape does not reliably adhere to smooth tile walls of showers. The tape releases from the wall.

The suction cups firmly and reliably adhere to the smooth ceramic, porcelain or painted metal walls of a shower or tub enclosure. In fact, suction cups adhere better to smooth, non-porous walls. If the walls are formed of porous masonry or rough surfaces, the surface behind the suction cup can be sealed with an adhesive patch of smooth plastic as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,047,102, the disclosure of which is expressly incorporated herein by reference. No fungus or mold is found to form on or under the suction cup after several months of residence in a shower enclosure.

I describe a waterproof oil painting which eliminates the use of adhesive. Holes are punched through the corners of the laminate and the art work is suspended by suction cups having a stem which is received in the holes. The outer end of the stem can have a hook or bulbous end to prevent the art work from falling off the stem. However, the waterproof envelope of paintings, such as abstract, landscape and figure oil paintings, is now not continuous since the top and bottom films are breached to form the apertures for hanging the assembly. It is found that some of the apertures are not totally sealed during lamination of the assembly. Water enters the envelope and is absorbed by and spots the absorbent print.

The invention can be used to form a seal on any aperture formed in a laminated assembly irrespective of whether it is used in a shower or tub. The final laminated print can be hung by hooks, nails or other fasteners to any wall surface. It is to be realized that only preferred embodiments of the invention have been described and that numerous substitutions, modifications and alterations are permissible without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

These and many other features and attendant advantages of the invention will become apparent as the invention becomes better understood by reference to the following detailed description when considered in conjunction with the accompanying hand-painted oil painting

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