Coffee and Mince Pies

 

We've coffee, mince pies, art and a warm welcome waiting for you today on the final day of this years Artweeks Xmas exhibition. We're open til 6.00 so brave the chilli weather and pay us a visit :-)

 

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A Winter Wonderland

 

Here's some of the gorgeous jewellery we have on display as part of our Artweeks Xmas Exhibition this weekend. We're open til 6 today and between 10 and 6 tomorrow :-)

 

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Oxfordshire Artweeks Xmas exhibition

 

Today we're busy getting ready for this weekends Oxfordshire Artweeks Xmas exhibition.

We've lots of pictures and jewellery on display, so it's an ideal opportunity to pick up the perfect Christmas gift. We're open Saturday and Sunday from 10-6pm. Free delicious coffee and tea while you browse and we might even find a mince pie or two... Hope you can come and join us :-)

 

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Seahorse

 

Here's one of the more unusual objects we've framed recently...a seahorse. We opted for a simple white frame with a spacer to give us a good gap between the seahorse and the glass. The seahorse itself is mounted directly onto the backboard and casts lovely shadows on the interior of the frame.

 

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Marbling

 

This pair of beautiful images are done with a marbling technique, ink floated on water and then paper floated over that to pick up the ink...at least I'm guessing that's how they've been done :-) We've framed them in matching oak frames, but used different coloured mounts to enhance each individual picture. A couple of very unusual and very interesting pictures.

 

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Banksy

 

Something a little different here, this is a Banksy print, originally framed by another framer, but in need of some new glass after a little accident. Luckily there was no damage to the print, so with a bit of a clean up and a new piece of UV glass in place it's all ready to go back up the wall. You can learn about Banksy's current project in New York here... http://www.banksyny.com

 

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Batik

 

A lovely batik piece here that we've framed very simply with a thin stained oak frame, plain mount and diffuse glass. Sometimes you don't want the frame to shout and draw your eye to the artwork, this was one of those occasions, the beautiful artwork is all the better for being simply presented.

 

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Lorna Marrison & Norman Hayes

 

Two different customers, two different artists...but similar subjects and the same framing...both are views of Eynsham, the one on the left is by Lorna Marrison, the piece on the right by Norman Hayes. We've used a light gold frame with simple double mounts. This particular frame really works well the Cotswold stone colours in both these beautiful pictures.

 

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An African village

 

We've framed up at least a dozen African pieces similar to this one over the last couple of months. Very evocative pieces that people have picked up on their travels, rolled into a tube and brought home with them to be framed...they present a variety of challenges depending on how the customer wants them framed and what the artist has painted them on....we did one that the customer wanted stretched like a canvas, but the artist had painted in on a very thin bed sheet....that required a delicate touch...:-) This piece was much simpler, painted on a good solid support we were free to frame in anyway we liked. As you can see, we went for a deep oak frame which we simply waxed. A double mount with blue at the bottom and a matching blue sidewall to reflect the colours in the artwork. The customer was really delighted with the end result and the piece can now take pride of place and remind them of their adventures. :-)

 

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Jennifer Crowshaw

 

Here are a pair of beautiful mixed media pieces by Jennifer Crowshaw. We've used a metallic looking frame to reflect the lead used in the artwork and added a thin wooden slip, painted in a complimentary colour to soften things and add a little space between the artwork and main frame. For more information about Jennifer's work, contact the SOTA Gallery in Witney.

 

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A sub frame

 

This beautiful eastern print came in for some repair work recently. The glass had broken and the frame was looking a little tired. The frame is quite thin for the size of glass needed, so we build a new sub frame on the back, this is basically a plain wood frame build purely for strength onto the back of the main frame. Once that was done we touched up the black frame areas with a combination of paint and wax and then fixed the main chips on the gold areas with a gold wax. New glass, fittings and a clean and this amazing piece of artwork has been given a new lease of life.

 

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Faces of Witney 2013

 

Here is a little sneaky peak of the 'Faces Of Witney' artwork we framed up recently. It's an amazing photographic project by David Willoughby and the SOTA Gallery in Witney, which captured hundreds of images of local people, some wonderful characterful faces, beautifully photographed...were you one of them?

The artwork is currently on display at the SOTA Gallery, their details can be found...HERE.

 

Further information on the work of David Willoughby can be found...HERE.

 

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Marillion - Brave - album cover

 

This was a lovely piece to work on, especially if you're a bit of a music nut like me :-) It's a pre production test print of the album cover artwork for "Brave" by rock legends, Marillion, the artwork is signed too, so this is a wonderful piece of memorabilia. We used a double black and white mount along with a chunky black frame, all of which enhances the strong, striking artwork...now we're off to get a bit of Marillion on the iPod :-)

 

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Coloured spacer

 

This is a lovely photo collage that we've framed using a metallic frame, a white mount and a lemon/green spacer. The spacer sets the mount and artwork back from the glass, this in itself gives a stylish look to framing, but in this instance we've gone a step further and painted it a vivid green colour to echo one of the colours in the artwork. The effect of this is to add a dramatic glow to the piece and really pair the frame with the artwork. :-)

 

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Fifty Shades Of Grey

 

 

Here's a piece of my own artwork, a framed tree sculpture, really pleased with the way it's turned out, looking forward to playing with a variety of colours as I work on the next ones. The aim is to build the frame and the artwork as one piece, hope you like it :-)

 

I thought about calling it 'Fifty Shades of Grey'...as there are so many different tones in all the shadows, but I think I'll just go with 'framed tree sculpture'...might increase the traffic from search engines if I go with the other title though :-)

 

Back to customer framing now... :-)

 

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Summer holidays

 

Here we have two lovely leaf prints done by a customers children during a summer art class. Printed onto cotton they have a beautiful feel to them, something you only ever get with handmade prints. We've paired them in a single frame with a triple mount, the black and birch mounts to enhance the individual prints and a final white mount to pull everything together. This would look great on anyone's wall but will be all the more special for the artists and their family, a wonderful memory of summer :-)

 

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Frames ready for Gesso

 

Here are 'some' of the frames we've made up from that large delivery. One of these is just going to be painted, but all the others need to be gessoed now...

 

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Lots to do...

 

Back from our holidays and this weeks materials are starting to arrive....it's going to be a busy time ahead :-)

 

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John Stezaker photo

 

Here's a very interesting piece we had in for framing last week. A photo by artist John Stezaker. The image is heading off for an exhibition and the framing needed to match the existing pieces that had already been framed, lucky we managed to find the same frame, so it was just a case of making an inner spacer to keep the glass away from the photo as there's no mount. This is a lovely way to frame photos, especially something as conceptual as this.

You can find about more about Stezaker's work here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Stezaker

 

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2000AD comic book cover

 

Here's a project that was great fun to build. A customer collected comic covers as a boy and felt now was the time for them to move onto a new home, but he wanted to keep his favourite cover and have it framed up for his office. We came up with the idea of incorporating some of the other pages into a collage which we've used as a spacer on the inside edge. The cover page itself has been double mounted, with the white upper mount floated over the lower grey mount. The frame is a simple box style which we've gessoed, painted and waxed which gives the finished piece a very handsome look :-)

The comic page is an early 1980's 2000AD and we focus on its main character Judge Dredd on the collage spacers. You can find out more about 2000AD here http://www.2000adonline.com/

So for all of you with comics stored in the loft...perhaps it's time to put them to a new use :-)

 

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Graham Rice

 

Here's one of my paintings I've just finished framing up and hung in the gallery. I've built up the artwork and the frame together, so the frame is very much part of the piece. The painting is floated in a white tray with the tree elements floating over the painting, this is then set in a matching white, waxed frame. Hope you like it :-)

'A Cotswold Summer' mixed media with 3D elements, 24" x 17" framed. £400

 

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An original by Emmy

 

Something by one of our younger customers here, a lovely flower drawing which we've put in a simple oak frame and added a small green fillet, just to highlight the piece. :-)

 

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Jacqueline Hopkins

 

Two gorgeous prints by artist Jacqueline Hopkins in for framing this morning. We've given them wide black wood frames, beautiful light in both of these pieces.

You can find more of Jacqueline's work at http://www.hop-art.co.uk/

 

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Celia Hart

 

Here we've framed up a pair of greeting cards by Celia Hart. We've used a dark blue frame with matching fillet and a Pale Peach mount. A couple of really gorgeous pictures :-)

You can find more of Celia's artwork at http://www.celiahart.co.uk/

 

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Gesso part 2

 

Nine coats of gesso later...these will need to dry for two or three days now, then they'll be ready for cleaning up :-)

 

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