Portrait of Jodie - Finished

Here is the portrait of Jodie all finished. I’ll get it framed up next week then it’ll be up on the wall :) I’ve added a photo of the palette i used, for anyone who’s interested.

Many thanks again to Jodie for posing. If you’d like a portrait just get in touch :)

Any questions about the painting, just type them below or message me :)

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

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

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...

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 ?

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/

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 ;)

Shabby Chic

To frame these two beautiful pastel portraits our client wanted something modern, but with a French, shabby chic feel. We accomplished this by selecting a clean, modern, bare wood moulding and giving it a shabby chic finish. To get this look we first primed the wood and then painted it in a red/brown tone to match the pastels used in the artwork. Once dry, this was over painted in a warm, off-white colour and again left to dry. The frames are then gently sanded to reveal just the right amount of the colour underneath. A couple of washes of thin off-white we're then applied to soften the effect and after a final dry the frames were waxed and polished. This has given the frames a lovely warm, soft feel that perfectly matches the pastel portraits of these two sisters.

Eric Ravilious

Eric Ravilious was a fabulous artist and here's a print by him we had in for framing last week. This is a wonderful example of his work and we've used a delicious Mantilla frame, double mount and Artglass to present it beautifully. The Mantilla range of frames has been proving very popular of late, it comes in Black, Gold, Silver and Ivory and has a gorgeous satin finish that adds a luxury touch to those special pieces of artwork, along with the 'invisible' Artglass, this is the perfect way to frame such a fantastic work of art.

Large pictures in thin frames...

Here we have a couple of large posters that needed framing in thin white frames. As these frames have minimal strength and the glass in them is pretty heavy, we needed to make a couple of 'sub frames' to hold everything together. A sub frame is simply a strong wooden frame attached to the rear of the main frame out of sight. The long thin Hockney poster was hung in the usual way with a cord across the back. But the large square Richter piece was too heavy for this, so we added two split batons to the top, these are the two strips of aluminium you can see in the photo. Each strip is one of a pair, with the other screwed to the wall, the two parts then lock into each other, securing the work firmly. It's a simple and strong way of hanging heavy pieces.

Greyhounds

Here we have a lovely pastel drawing of two greyhounds with a wonderful sense of movement to it. We’ve used a double mount and classic black wooden frame to give a bold and unfussy look that sets off the subtle monochrome colour of the piece.

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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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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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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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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