Bruges

This is a lovely print of a winter scene in Bruges, that a customer bought in for framing a couple of weeks ago. We used a white mount and hand painted frame to match the colours in the picture. Lovely job, we and the customer were very pleased :-)...Last weekend (before we started on the mad work in the new workshop) I was in Bruges myself for a short break, just around the corner from the (wonderful) B&B I was staying in, is this very location...and down a little side street from there, is the artist who painted this, selling his work on a stall. He was delighted that his work had made it home to the UK and his stall was packed with lots more lovely prints...so if you ever visit Bruges (and you really should...) hunt him out and buy yourself a beautiful souvenir :-)

Canvas repair

Here we have a painting by a young lady, who bought her masterpiece home from school. Her brothers were playing and accidentally sat on it, ripping a large hole in the middle…cue one unhappy little girl…

As is often the way in life however, granny came to the rescue, bringing the painting into us to see if we could do anything…We removed it from the broken stretcher bars, flattened everything, stuck it to a new piece of canvas and stretched that to a new support.

Once that was done, we filled the little gaps between the tears and painted over the top to match the surrounding artwork. We’ve popped it into a black tray frame so it can hang up on the wall…

Away from little brothers…;)

Floating Canvas

Here’s another of the pieces we framed for Maureen’s exhibition at SOTA. A beautiful acrylic sunset. We floated the canvas within the frame by adding a small tray (the unpainted piece in the inset photo). Once painted this adds a lovely detail to the frame, giving the canvas space to breathe. Its a simple touch that makes a big difference when framing canvases.

For further details on Maureens work go to… http://www.artbymaureengillespie.co.uk/

For further details on SOTA, go to… http://www.sotagallery.co.uk/

Maureen Gillespie Solo Exhibition at SOTA in Witney

These are a selection of the paintings we’ve framed up for artist Maureen Gillespie’s solo exhibition which is currently running at the SOTA Gallery in Witney. It’s a beautiful collection of work inspired by her love of the countryside and sea. We’ve framed a number of originals in a variety of hand painted frames, along with some prints framed in oak. Her work has a wonderful sense of depth and the textures are gorgeous. Well worth a visit :)

For further details on Maureens work go to… http://www.artbymaureengillespie.co.uk

For further details on SOTA, go to… http://www.sotagallery.co.uk

Valerie Wartelle

This print is amazing! It's by Valerie Wartelle and the original piece was made using fibres. It's then been beautifully photographed and printed, with the print having a wonderful three dimensional effect and velvety finish. We've framed it using a wide classical moulding which we've painted white. An absolutely gorgeous piece...you can find out more about Valerie's work at http://www.valeriewartelle.co.uk

Decorative Tiles

For these beautiful tiles we've built a solid frame with routed openings. Some of the tiles are slightly different sizes, so each is carefully fitted and held in place with individually cut foamboard supports. The frame has been finished with an off white eggshell paint and the final result is a clean contemporary way of displaying these beautiful pieces.

Hatching a plan...

So, a little more about the plan we're busy hatching...as you can see from this photo our beautiful little gallery is currently somewhat overcrowded with framing materials...you can just about see there's artwork on the walls behind everything, but there's no chance of getting to anything...so, the plan we've been working on is to secure some extra workshop space to expand into…and behind the white doors in the second photo is what will become The Cuckoo’s Nest Workshop!!! Hopefully we’ll have the keys early next month and then we’ll be transforming that into a framers paradise…or something like that…The workshop will allow us to increase production and turn the gallery back into the tidy, welcoming space it once was…we can’t wait ! :)x

Stained Glass

Here we have a beautiful stained glass panel. Rather than use a conventional frame, we've produced an oak stand which has a grove inside to hold the panel securely. The oak has been finished with a lime wax and given a good polish. The piece is now standing on the customers windowsill with the spring sunshine showing it off in all it's glory :-)

Yachting

This very dramatic yachting piece is acrylic on canvas paper and our customer wanted to do something extra special with it. We selected a classic scooped moulding which we added some extra depth to and then painted off-white. The painting was then double mounted and a matching blue sidewall was used to set the piece back from the glass, the glass itself was ‘invisible’ Artglass which removes 99% of the reflections. The end result is really spectacular and would look wonderful hung in a traditional or contemporary setting. A lovely piece to work on :)

Nelson Mandela

This morning I've been in a parking garage at Rhodes House in Oxford, varnishing the speed painting done my M.Raivard on Thursday evening. Not as impressive a location as the hall where he painted it, but that's why he's the famous artist, and I'm doing the varnishing ;-) It's a spectacular portrait of Nelson Mandela, a little over 2 meters tall and 2.5 wide he cuts a most impressive figure. The painting has a beautiful kaleidoscope of colours and the energy with which the paint was applied is self evident, very dramatic. However the warmth and calmness of Mandela's smile still shines out of the picture...and amazing painting of an amazing man...

Michael Raivard

I went to meet speed painter Michael Raivard this morning, a thoroughly charming chap who we’re doing some varnishing work for over the weekend. He was busy supervising the stage setting for a performance this evening at a private party in Oxford, lots of lights and music being organised in a beautiful setting, where he’ll produce his very large artwork in just a few minutes… An amazing painting experience, the total opposite from the way I paint, but fascinating to see how he organises everything. Am really looking forward to seeing what he’s painted when we go back on saturday…:) 

You can find out more about Michael at http://www.raivard.com/en/

Watch some of the videos…amazing stuff :)

Aboriginal Art

These are a couple of aboriginal style prints on cloth from Australia. We used a black frame with silver detailing and an off white mount. We've set the artwork at the back of the frame using coloured sidewalls in each frame, one blue and one orange to compliment the colours in the artwork. These lovely mementoes of our customers trip ‘down-under’ have now become pieces of artwork to be treasured.

Little Miss Poppy

Here’s a piece a young art collector brought in for framing. We used a bright blue frame with matching slip and an off-white mount….looks great :) So, which Mr Man/Miss would you choose ?

Print of Ravello

Normally at the Cuckoo's Nest we try and steer our customers towards modern, contemporary framing as much as possible, but occasionally traditional is the way to go. Such was the case with this beautiful little print of Ravello, our customer was having the piece framed as a gift for an older gentleman so we selected this thin black and gold frame moulding. In the past this might have been coupled with a hand lined mount, but this really does give a picture a dated feel. Instead of that we opted to use a double mount with a dark grey lower mount, this balances the colour of the print with the frame and gives us a traditional looking frame with a fresh feel.

Silk Print

This is a lovely silk print of some fish, the colours are amazing, this photo really doesn't do them justice. We've used a rich deep red mount and an oak frame which we've button polished to really bring out the warmth of the wood. Button polish doesn't work with everything, but the colours in this are so rich, it's the perfect choice.

Darren Woodhead

Here we have a beautiful print by Darren Woodhead. I really like the way the customer chose to frame this, with an elegant double mount, simple waxed oak frame and 'invisible' Artglass. It's given the framing a very gentle, natural feel that perfectly compliments the artwork. You can find out more about Darren and his work at http://darrenwoodhead.com/

French Town Photo

Another frame using the black Mantilla frame, this time housing a wonderful warm photo of a French town. The detail in this picture is superb, you could look into it for hours and the overall effect is so vibrant. A double mount finishes it all off. Gorgeous :-)

Amazing Collage

Here is a piece by a customer of ours who makes these amazing collages commemorating her family members birthdays, anniversaries etc. They are so detailed, with photos, tickets, badges, all sorts of things highlighting different memories and events in someone's life. Framed in these rich, ornate silver frames, with double mounting on the main image and a single mount opening for a small dedication at the bottom they make a wonderful gift for the recipient and an amazing record of memories to be treasured. A great idea for anyone wanting to hand make a really special gift.

Harry Lange

This is a very special piece, a drawing by a chap called Harry Lange. Harry was a production designer in the movie business who work on 2001, Star Wars, Bond movies, all sorts of amazing things. He also gave me a job as a runner and model maker when I was a wee lad, many, many years ago. So it was a delight to have this little sketch in for framing. The customer was a carpenter by trade and gave us a free hand on the framing, so we had to select a nice piece of oak for the frame and do something a bit special with it. We opted to use a button polish to finish the wood, this is a type of French Polish and has given the wood this glorious warm colour, inside we used a double mount and the top mount has been floated to give a shadow effect. UV glass finishes the piece off, protecting the artwork. A wonderful thing to get to frame, reminded me of some great times :-)

Beautiful old frame in for repairs

Here is a frame a customer bought in along with a number of other framing jobs. It's a beautiful frame, but was looking pretty bashed about, with cracks and chips all over, it was also the wrong size for any of their artwork, but quite rightly, they wanted to do something with such a lovely ornate frame. We suggested adding a mirror and doing some basic restoration to give it a new lease of life and the customer was delighted with the idea. Initially we gave the frame a good clean, removing any loose pieces, re-gluing what we could. Then we used a sculpting putty to fill cracks and re-model certain areas of carving. Once dry the puttied areas were painted with a red Bole and after more drying time we mixed a gold wax to match the rest of the frame. Adding a beveled mirror and giving everything a final polish finished the job and bought this beautiful frame back to life. Mirrors available with or without giant Cuckoo logos in the middle ;)