As an artist, I find old drawings and such. Sometimes I keep them for one reason or another and other times they are tossed because there are so many that are attempts that failed.
Sometimes I'm amazed at what I drew back then. Recently a stippled picture that I spent hours and hours on, slipped out of the pad it was being kept in. This picture had been done on Bristol smooth paper that was supposed to be acid free, archivel etc. Well the one time I bought this expensive paper for several important pieces, was all for nothing. I have kindergarten paper that has lasted better than this. So the picture slipped out and fell to the floor - and turned into a mosaic. Crummy paper was like chalk and shattered. I occasionally look at it on the floor. All that time wasted because of the paper. But I don't equate paper with people.
I'll never buy another piece of paper by Bristol. That's my lesson. As for as the painter - he can paint over stuff if he wants but why not buy or make another canvass? I would have given it to the boy. Art is after all, in my opinion, something that is found in the eye of the beholder and an experience unique to the viewer. Haha sorry, I often get carried away from the topic.