The wall where this watercolour was hanging got thoroughly wet by an upstairs leak created by a washing machine. It remained hanging on the wall whereas all framed artwork should have been taken off the wall to be air dry or unframed. It was left on the wall for 6 weeks and being in its microclimates behind glazing the mould grew on the recto as well as the verso.

The flood water cleaned the area within the horseshoe shape of the mould and this horseshoe tied-mark was made stronger by the discolouration that was shifted by the water leak.

The treatment commenced with un-framing the water colour, gently hoovering away the furry coloured mould from the recto and verso and then the watercolour began its treatment on a vacuum table where it was sprayed with deionised water followed by a solution of hydrogen peroxide, ammonia and deionised water. The horseshoe line had local applications of the hydrogen peroxide solution but the risk was the mould having weakened the paper and further cleaning with hydrogen peroxide could create the watercolour paper to tear.

A final rinse was carried out on the vacuum table to remove any hydrogen peroxide residue. The watercolour was repressed before retouching and the tracing of the white spray of the seascape provided a guide for the white highlights. The horseshoe discolouration, although reduced, was masked further by applying pastel across this embedded tideline.

This watercolour shows how the brown discolouration can mask the colour pallet that the artist used.