Monday, August 17, 2015
Sunday, August 9, 2015
Sororicide
Rachel and Mercedes did a photo with me some time ago. I've just rediscovered this picture. I asked them if they ever fought when they were growing up. Rachel grabbed Mercedes's hair and yanked it. From that moment came this.
Thursday, August 6, 2015
Saturday, August 1, 2015
FRAMING AND MATTING YOUR ART
I'm getting some questions about how to frame and mat your art. There are a zillion ways and a zillion tastes. I'm going to give you just one that has worked beautifully for Louise and me. You may find, like us, that you have to work with a limited budget. You may have limited space or family considerations. So this may all be nonsense for you, but here goes:
This is a picture that would be, by itself, about 15" x 22". If you have the space and resources, you can have this piece make a statement in your room by giving it a large mat of six inches. YOU DON'T HAVE TO DO THIS. Remember, I'm just saying that this works well. You can have a smaller mat or no mat. That's your choice too. That said, having your framer put a double mat on the picture (the blue line around it) gives the mat a chance to highlight the picture. It may be a thin black line. I've chosen here a mat that picks up the blue in the picture. My outer mat, again a matter of personal taste, is off white. The total size of this picture, framed and matted, would now be about 31 x 38 inches. In my neighborhood that frame and mat will cost about $150. If decorating matters to you, it's something to consider.
Short story. When Louise and I were in Berlin in the 1970s, we lived on the top floor of a villa owned by people who had inherited a large collection of German woodcuts from the early 1900s. Before we left they asked us to take one home for them and try to sell it for $1,000. It was a tinted woodcut of three sailors. I wasn't smitten with it, and we didn't have a thousand dollars. One of my colleagues at the university bought it. I thought no more about it until we were at his home one night for an open house. And there was this picture, beautifully matted and framed in a way that picked up the light blues in the picture. I was stunned. I never quite got over it. Recently I found a copy of that woodcut online and printed one for myself. Will I be able to get the picture with the same effect as my colleague's? Not quite, but the framing and matting will make a huge difference.
This is a picture that would be, by itself, about 15" x 22". If you have the space and resources, you can have this piece make a statement in your room by giving it a large mat of six inches. YOU DON'T HAVE TO DO THIS. Remember, I'm just saying that this works well. You can have a smaller mat or no mat. That's your choice too. That said, having your framer put a double mat on the picture (the blue line around it) gives the mat a chance to highlight the picture. It may be a thin black line. I've chosen here a mat that picks up the blue in the picture. My outer mat, again a matter of personal taste, is off white. The total size of this picture, framed and matted, would now be about 31 x 38 inches. In my neighborhood that frame and mat will cost about $150. If decorating matters to you, it's something to consider.
Short story. When Louise and I were in Berlin in the 1970s, we lived on the top floor of a villa owned by people who had inherited a large collection of German woodcuts from the early 1900s. Before we left they asked us to take one home for them and try to sell it for $1,000. It was a tinted woodcut of three sailors. I wasn't smitten with it, and we didn't have a thousand dollars. One of my colleagues at the university bought it. I thought no more about it until we were at his home one night for an open house. And there was this picture, beautifully matted and framed in a way that picked up the light blues in the picture. I was stunned. I never quite got over it. Recently I found a copy of that woodcut online and printed one for myself. Will I be able to get the picture with the same effect as my colleague's? Not quite, but the framing and matting will make a huge difference.
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