Framing Day...getting ready for an art show

The Fine Arts Show comes on March 1 this year.  But the planning, the framing, the applications, etc all have to be pretty well in advance.  Below is a watercolor sketch I did on location back in 2007.  I have never shown it, to my memory, but down here in Florida it makes a perfect place.  This is the St. Augustine lighthouse.  I climbed to the top of it once!  (Them were the good old days before knee surgery!) I think Mary and Den were visiting us from England that spring and since I'd been in the museum once I sent them all on ahead and I perched outside and sketched.  

13 years ago and I remember it just like today.   Drawing or sketching things as you travel etches the place, time, temperature, light and even the remembrance of who was with you and what you feeling.  Special thanks to Peg Lindsey for gifting me with some extra mats and frames!  

This little painting was done from a photograph I took up in Wisconsin one fall day when we were nostalgically looking for buildings that held memories of our past.  This is farm house and barn that belonged to Greg's grandparents.  His mother had 3 siblings and two of them, the youngest, were twins, Lucille and Richard.  They were born in this farm house and their mother died there in childbirth.   The twins were then split up and raised in two different households.  They connected again as adults. 

I've always kind of liked this little painting as it seem quiet and a little forlorn.  

That Ole Framing Thing...

Yup...time again. Not MY favorite job. But it's show time in Florida and so time for some "presentation" ideas. The 6 paintings below show a variety of presentations...traditional and less traditional. All are wire-hung on the back.

The largest painting is going into the Leesburg Art Association month long show at the Leesburg Center for the Arts. It is traditionally framed yupo watercolor, double matted and under plexiglass due to it's size (required by this show for larger paintings). It has a dust cover on the back.

The other 5 are going into the Hawthorne Park show on March 13th which is a one-day show. The parrot is a traditional watercolor under class in a metal frame. The Sunflowers at the end is a paper painting (ala Elizabeth Nelson's style) in acrylic, gloss coated so no glass.

The one in the middle on the seat of the sofa (called Flowers and Snow Cones) is a watercolor on canvas. The watercolor is made permanent with an acrylic spray. I use 3 coats of Krylon Varnish. So no glass on that one. Apple Cake...the darker acrylic is traditonally framed for an acrylic. No glass.

Here is a close up of the "Clownin' Around" presentation. I've done it ala Bob Burridge style framing. Although this is a traditional watercolor so I had to put 3 coats of varnish on it before I glued it down to an acrylic painted canvas. You can find Bob's "recipe" for his in his last Artsy Fartsy news (google that) and then it is clear coated with Liquitex Gloss Medium and Varnish...two coats. This might not be accepted in some high end shows. So be sure to check before you do it. AND, it is what I called a "final" framing because you can never take this off and present it another way. This is it.

Framing Again

So now it's time to send in my application for the Manitowish Waters Art League Show in July. Deadline June 30. Three this time.

This is a new show for me. Manitowish Waters, WI, is a nice lakes community about half an hour from Lac du Flambeau.

I'm always tempted to send in "Untitled" for all 3 so I don't have to make up my mind so far ahead! Hahahaha. But I decided one of each media might be nice...one watercolor, one acrylic, one mixed media. I still have to put a dust cover on the watercolor and hang wires all all three. But there's time yet for all that.

Oh, and I just found out that I won a raffle drawing at the Lakeland Art League for some $ off on an art workshop at Dillman's Resort in Lac du Flambeau. I am so excited. I never win anything! There are some fantastic artists coming there this summer and fall! More about that to come! (It's an overcast and cool day here in the north woods.)

The Group is Ready to Hang

Framing AGAIN for exhibitions

Framing.....never my favorite art chore. If I was rich and famous I'd hand them off for someone else to frame!!! Most of these paintings you have probably seen unframed in some blog before. But it's always nice to see how they look in a frame too.

I am preparing for February as "Artist of the Month" in the Hawthorne Park Library. I'll be interviewed on closed circuit TV this Friday morning about them!

The first painting is an en plein air watercolor on YES canvas board (11 x 14) sprayed with an acrylic varnish and without glass. It is the 2009 "Spring Winter Garden Plant and Garden Show" (which is coming again on April 10/11). You can see more about it under events at the right.

The second painting is a watercolor on Yupo. Framed to 16 x 20. It is called "Webster Flea Market" (where I took the reference photo). It is under glass (sorry about reflection.)

The third is called "Welcome Pineapple", a paper painting (collage) in paper and acrylic. 11 x 14 on YES canvas board. Glazed with varnish and gloss and without glass.

There will be 4 other paintings which are currently stacked on the kitchen table awaiting their wires. My hubby is always helpful coming in to pre-drill the holes for me.

There are lots of spring shows coming up and I have to be read early because we just bought a new house and we'll be closing March 19 and moving about 3 blocks away (in the same park). But you all know moving is hectic!!!

Framing to Get Ready for Shows

I would have given anything to be in the studio or out sketching today. Sigh. But today had been set aside for framing (or in the case of gallery wrap canvas...wiring) and making sure everything was set to be packed into the car tomorrow.  

I am getting ready for a two-woman show to be held in the halls of the Howard Young Hospital in Minocqua, WI for the month of August.  AND at the same time have 5 pieces ready for the People's Choice show sponsored by the Lakeland Art League.  This strained my framing

 to be sure.  

Everything you see here is watercolor (under glass) Most on Arches 140# cold press although one is on Yupo (tulips with large pot). The exception is the yellow watering can which is acrylic on canvas.  

I tend to find interesting old frames at garage and rummage sales and then have the hard work of taking them all apart, pulling out wires or staples or nails and then cutting mats and foam core, getting glass cut, and fitting everything together again and tacking it. Sometimes I use metal frames which definitely cuts down on the work involved and I think is fine for a show like this one.  Then on top of this I wanted a new bio to be displayed and I wanted my business cards up to date and I wanted a guest book for people to sign....yadda yadda yadda.  There will be over 20 pieces to hang on Friday.  Whew.  No one ever talks much about this part of getting ready to show.  So I just thought I'd share.