framed! part duex

finished frame, sans stain

I now have two... TWO! paintings that are properly framed and ready to ... well... HANG for lack of better words! Over the weekend, I finished building the frame that I was working on by cutting pieces of 1"x2" and securing them to the back of the frame: It added much needed depth and sturdiness to the piece. Once the glue was dry and set, I ran the sander over the frame one last time to ensure that all the surfaces were smooth and even. A dark walnut stain was applied soon after, and once it was dry, I secured the three paintings inside and sat back to admire my work. To say I'm happy with the result is an understatement, since I'm famously HORRIBLE at woodwork. I always wanted to design a frame for those paintings that would become part of the piece, not just an accessory to it. The horizontal flow makes me swoon. Iz uber prowd.

On Monday, my super cool frame from PictureFrames.com came in, fully assembled and ready for Material Experiment #1! The painting fit in it perfectly and was secured with canvas clips: The ornate bright silver frame complimented it quite nicely.

The last step I needed to take with both frames was to finish them off with paper backing, wiring and labels... which I've never done. But, after watching about ten minutes of You Tube videos on the subject, I had brown paper, double sided tape, wire hanging supplies and spray adhesive in hand and ready to go. First I applied the double sided tape to the back edges of both frames. After cutting the paper to size, I pressed it onto the tape and went over it with a fid to make sure it really stuck. Then, I screwed in the hardware and twisted on the wiring. Finally, I sprayed the labels with a little adhesive, and stuck em' on.














So both paintings are ready to be displayed. Look at me, finally finishing something! With any luck, Sunset at the Beach will sell at the MRAC-RDC Silent Auction on Thursday, May 3rd: I'm donating it for the their fund raising effort. And hopefully, Material Experiment #1 will be selected to be displayed at MRAC's May show, which opens on May 6th. Maybe you'd like to come visit and see them in person...?