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10K views 144 replies 20 participants last post by  Skip Enge 
#1 ·
I know many in this group create visual art...I'd like to see it ...Here is a seasonal one...the seasons affect what I do as a watercolorist often..."Lunaria"(aka money plant or silver dollar
Brown Branch Twig Wood Rectangle
)
 
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#67 · (Edited)
I have trouble drawing a straight line. Now my granddaughter is an excellent artist. Some day when she lets me see what she has done. I will probably show some pictures off on here. Here is one image. This was blown up and stuck on an Electrical Box at Montana Western Univ.
 

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#68 ·
Filigree

The patterns we see
in the bright
Light of day
Create designs
Before us
Of life and decay
this leads us
Gets my attention
To the array
around me
A patch of thatch
Creates a striped display
Intertwined
Overlapping
A natural filigree
Look this way
And that
All around you
There is plenty
to see.
Plant Terrestrial plant Twig Rectangle Grass
 
#69 ·
I have not painted in a few months...Need to put together a show. Need to find a venue to hang it...which is always a challenge...I got SICK of galleries I was part of... Anyway, I think I will call the show... "SCATTERBRAIN" a collection of paintings from past themed shows. It could work! Ha!
 
#76 ·
I have alwayss believed the medium is the master...to be steered and let it do it's thing...of course that requires a level of understanding of medium and surface but also a kind of letting go...painting rather than drawing with a brush...that I have done plenty of times and ended up with depictions lacking any intensity of feeling...I try not to draw with a brush...however my next painting may well be exactly that if a bit phrenetically calligraphic...energy to loosen up further is my plan...
 
#81 ·
so i was trying to go for a daily 3rd painting in a row...went to my favorite park up the river ...laid out a painting ...then a family comes with little kids...starts a fire in the covered area fireplace ...a picnic of sorts which is fine...the parents especially the "dad" i assume are a bit brusk and noisy...hey it's a public county park...anyway he proceeds to check the bathroom around the corner which is locked and walks about 15 feet from me and proceeds to piss on the side of the building i am at a table woking at...aromatic and unbelievable given there are probably 7 acres in this little wooded park...i pack up and go home disgusted...i did not say a thing...All i can think of is "oh the humanity" we have diversity ...yup you betcha...
 
#83 ·
You know I frame my own stuff...couldn't afford it otherwise...the frames I have been doing are generally neutral in color ...a warm or cool grey and finished with a graphite powder tinted water based flat varnish...made from textured 5/4 siding...it's cheap and I mill it in lengths...frames are all the same size...the mats are half a full mat board sheet and so is the glass...i get maximum use for what i buy...My framing probably costs me out of pocket $40 3each and a bit of labor...my labor is cheap... ;)
I came up with this because upon selling a painting...clients might very well get them reframed...Now if they did it would be swell to get the frames back... Ha! Sort of like gifting the hot pepper jelly, pepper sauce and canning I gift ...where friends save the jars and bottles for me.
 
#84 · (Edited)
One of the great things about my job at the frame shop was people bringing in older pieces and putting new frames on, and ditching old cool frames for me to use. Also, when someone chose a 3 layered Matt design, we'd be left with about 70-80 percent of excess Matt that we could use again or I would eventually use myself. Suede matts, etc, spendy, acid-free good stuff.

One more perk was one of my co-workers there had a full-time job at the local frame chopshop and moulding distributor. Huge score. Besides big discounts even our shop did not have, he'd make miniature frames out of leftover moulding-some stuff was spendy.

Wanted to add a couple shots for fun. I framed the fly on the left inhouse, at cost, and it ran me about $50 out of pocket I think (20+ years ago). A customer would have paid $350+ for the service in that 10x10.

The other piece, I show in resect to the old local framer we had in the late 70's and early 80's, a sweet old guy who had a tiny frame shop near the local grocery store. My Mom took that painting I did in 10th grade and dropped it off, and he framed it tastefully. When I see that piece, I think of him (Skip, you can see I found my first tube of white watercolor highlighter, and as the paper ages, the white became stronger and stronger : )

The framers are a big part of the final presentation, no doubt.
Picture frame Photograph Rectangle Art Painting
 
#85 ·
One of the great things about my job at the frame shop was people bringing in older pieces and putting new frames on, and ditching old cool frames. Also, when someone chose a 3 layered Matt design, we'd be left with about 70-80 percent of excess Matt that we could use again or I would eventually use myself. Suede matts, etc, spendy, acid-free good stuff.

One more perk was one of my co-workers there had a full-time job at the local frame chopshop and molding distributor. Huge score. Besides big discounts even our shop did not have, he'd make miniature frames out of leftover molding-some stuff was spendy
Yes I had a frame restoration bizz and replicated those "cool old frames" artists made in the 30's through 60's ...that was my specialty ...as well as casting and gilding repaired ornamental frames......I still have a lot of old frames in the shop that i hang onto for use in something...whenever the "something" comes around that is... ;) I have 3 large metal Haun flat files full of rag mat...I rarely used colored mats per se' usually greige, off white, pearl, cream ...stuff like that...mat selection when framing and matting foxed and yellowed works on paper were challenging to select the right colors to deemphasize the discoloration... So i had 7 different mat manufacturers i bought them from...always getting discontinued and sucjh...drove me nuts...My clients were museums and collectors...veerrrrry picky...I really don't miss it ...I mean I needed special insurance to bring home a $10,000 painting...my limit...I framed some things for the Portland Art Museum collections in house because of the scary values...take measurements pics...go home work...revisit...etc etc then arrange an installation...it was tedious but lucrative...and occasionally scary...
 
#86 ·
Oh, I can imagine the pressure of high end stuff ! I was low man on the totem pole for framing at the shop so I was not going to be framing originals much, and for sure, nothing like the museum stuff you were doing.

We once had co-worker sandwich an original behind a big mat before it went through the cutting process to find it butchered after..that was a tough one. People often brought in limited edition prints that someone had heat mounted to a cheap foamboard like a poster, they'd ask valuation of the print and I would tell them when the owner would be in for an "accurate expert opinion"...geez
 
#88 ·
Oh, I can imagine the pressure of high end stuff ! I was low man on the totem pole for framing at the shop so I was not going to be framing originals much, and for sure, nothing like the museum stuff you were doing.

We once had co-worker sandwich an original behind a big mat before it went through the cutting process to find it butchered after..that was a tough one. People often brought in limited edition prints that someone had heat mounted to a cheap foamboard like a poster, they'd ask valuation of the print and I would tell them when the owner would be in for an "accurate expert opinion"...geez
I once worked at Michaels part time post 2008 once shit hit the fan economically...My wife and I at that time lost our careers/jobs...she worked as many as 3 part time jobs at base wage...I later worked at Michaels...it was soul killing framing Kincade prints and expected to upsell their over priced crap...it was the worst JOB I ever experienced...Yes over priced at the 65% discount pricing...Ugly business model. I quit.
 
#89 · (Edited)
Yes, the business model in framing was robbery. Had some very sweet older ladies come in trying to frame things for grandkids for Christmas and they would nearly pass out when I told them the prices. Things like $80-$100 only the 11x14 frames? No way they could afford the jacked prices.

Being a poor acting employee, I often took them aside and said "go buy a standard size frame, bring it in, and we will get you a Matt to fit at about 80% savings over the ridiculous frame price thievery.

I was scolded a few times, finally took my stack of matts and hit the road.

Kincade stuff was so horrible BEFORE I heard his life story. I have a few deal-breakers for people, he is one
: )

Cue the Phil Collins song, "well if you told me you were drowning..."
 
#97 ·
Wish I could write this off on this years taxes......anyway donated last year to the school district fund raiser for an auction...it made them some money... I did it in class with the students while sub teaching...I would never have painted it if not for the classroom...Kids straining at least ideologically to have their voices heard...so this
Arm Human body Gesture Art Painting
 
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