I met Ms. Greek because she works with Scott, the owner of The Frame House in Oceanside. Scott has a wonderful eye, and is also knows how to save you money.
In addition to some straight-forward framing jobs, I also had some old oil paintings that were grimy and a bit damaged. Scott had the business card for Ninya Lee Greek, who does appraisals, restoration and repairs. She met me at Scott's shop, which was very handy, so I didn't have to drive to Kearney Mesa. She took them to her own store to restore them, then brought them back to Scott's in Oceanside to be re-framed, after she had repaired and cleaned the three oil paintings. The oil paintings, which were almost 100 years old, looked AMAZINGLY better! Definitely worth the price to have them professionally cleaned and repaired!
Scott and Ninya both thought the frames on the two smaller oils detracted from them. They were correct! When Scott selected new frames with a reddish tone, they made the little oil paintings pop! I already liked them, but now I love them!
The large oil, by a relatively well-known artist, was really grimy. I had taken it to a different farmer's business in another town, but that framing business belatedly decided they couldn't clean the painting depite having held onto it for a long time (!). They also misplaced the original frame, which I am still waiting for them to find.
Ninya did an amazing job of cleaning the painting. It, too, is now gorgeous, compared to its pre-cleaning and restoration. It had had a section where paint had come off, and someone had attempted to repair it in a really bad way. So both Ninya and Scott put in some time to make a wonderful repair.
Ninya also appraised an Okinawanese wood block print, the larger oil, and a Chinese porcelain vase. She provided me with a notebook full of useful information about each piece, the certificates one needs to properly offer something for sale or to collect insurance in the event of a loss, and information related to insurance and selling one's art pieces. She also insisted I read everything while she stood by to answer any questions.
I really wish I had taken before and after photos of how these items looked before being so greatly improved by Ninya's cleaning and repairs. But try and imagine what they looked like before -- not half as nice as now. I am going to see if I can at least post the before photos. Scott of The Frame House in Oceanside also deserves a lot of credit for. selecting better matting and framing, which truly enhanced each piece.
I noticed that Ninya has some negative reviews. I should add that she is one of those " Unforgettable Characters" as mentioned in The Readers' Digests of old. She seems to know what she's doing (her C. V. is amazing), and at times gets caught up in the moment. I did get tired of her calling me a " trust fund baby" since I'm not, but that didn't have any bearing on the work she actually did.
In fact, I figured part of what I was paying for was the entertainment value of dealing with a real character! read more