Woodworks

Left Stu with his first task as official art-tech today; altering a couple of paintings to fit some frames that previously belonged to older work. He suffers just now from a lack of equipment and a prevalence of cats, but it is yet another baby step in the right direction; it was amazing how positive it felt coming home to find two newly framed paintings. Even we are currently only remaking and recycling, it is saving me oodles of money which I could be reinvesting in paint!
The long term plan is for Stu to learn framing and begin the thankless task of being my full-time framer and technical support; the smaller frames I did to house my giclee prints have set me thinking various things about the way I hope to go with the framing of all my work, and of framing in general as a further viable option for earning a living between us that does not rely on Stu cheffing. The frames I did with potato prints in bright colours work really well for the little prints, but I think that approach will be a bit overwhelming on most of the larger ones. That said, we were eyeing up some paint in Homebase last night and Stu automatically picked out some really lovely oxblood and a limey green, which would have been stunning together, possibly with a more monotone painting to complement it.
My aesthetic is more 'knackered French country' or similar Far Eastern furniture; either layered pale colours sanded back and 'distressed' then waxed or darker more intricate designs, but likewise layered and sanded back to give them the feeling of something beautiful and old rediscovered. Research and bitter experience has shown how easily damaged, and thus how shallow the paint is on most commercially available frames. I have just been reworking a big one which some unhelpful person damaged at a show earlier in the year just by stacking two pictures front to back, meaning that the fixings on the reverse of one frame gouge out the paint on the front of the other. The paint didn't take much gouging, however, and when I sanded it down it came off like butter; repainted with a couple of coats of rust, grey/parchment and gold and then sanded looks awesome, and that was just a bit of a rush job.
Four more paintings heading across the city to Ritchie's gallery in Leith, including the newly renovated frame; it is great to have somewhere for them to go! For so long the paitings have hung about the house, gone to shows and returned; now I think we are really on a roll at last. The more I paint the easier I find it and the easier I find it to concentrate.
So - off to find Stu some wood to practise his framing paint on; and check out some waxes and varnishes to use; hopefully the start of another little development in our creative plan.