Framing

2007 - The Grid 1 - 36x36

Delivered four new paintings to my local gallery today so my walls are bare yet again. I have some paper pieces I've collected over the years that need frames... I have the wall space now, just need to get out the gear. Several years ago J sectioned off a framing room for me in his basement workshop space and I got it all organized and did use it for awhile. Then the room had to be cleared when he decided to add a half bath upstairs, directly over said space. Wouldn't have been so bad if I'd cleared it out myself but piles of stuff stirred and restacked elsewhere is intimidating to tackle... so I haven't. What appears to be haphazard and probably worthless scrap is actually something I'm gonna need as soon as I can't find it. But no one would know that but me. But hey! What a great excuse for not framing anything for a couple of years! I forgive.

Obviously, framing is not on my list of favorite pastimes. Hence an early move from paper works to gallery wrap canvases that don't require frames. I'm a d-i-y type, too cheap to pay someone to do something I can (passably) do myself. And anyway... I've heard the "how much without the frame" remark often enough to know it's asking for trouble. However I've seen some frame jobs that would make me ask the same question. I started announcing (when I was doing the selling) that the frame was free. That it merely served to protect the artwork and offered a temporary means of display. "Free?" Yep... the magic word! Got rid of a lot of scratched frames that way, too!

Several opportunities to show matted works on paper, plus the preponderance of such work accumulated, have me in the mat cutting business again. You can't just shove the stuff out there, naked and unadorned as if abandoned and unloved. You have to show some respect for it with quality mats and protective wrap. So... I'm armed with brand new razor blades, found most of my cutting gear and have my work cut out for me... so to speak.

I think we'll go to the lake for a couple of days ;-)

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---The gallery sent a few photos of the Memphis show and they are loaded here.
---My poison ivy is finally fading away but since I'm actively working on getting the pest under control at the lake house, I expect to get it again in spite of extreme precautions.
---J's bad sprain continues to bother him... bad swelling up to his knee, but he's beginning to be able to get around without the walker... and doesn't complain quite as much. Talk about a D-I-Y type, that's his middle name! We joke that all his best friends work at Home Depot so you can understand his impatience.