| [Napoleon] Bonaparte well knew that the fine arts entail lasting glory on great actions, and consecrate the memory of princes who protect and encourage them. ~ Louis Antoine Fauvelet de Bourrienne |
I’m a member of a custom framing forum and recently read this quote:
I remember, before entering the industry, thinking “Just four bits of wood and a sheet of glass; how hard can that be…?”
The answer is pretty d*@n hard. It is like playing drums – simple in concept but not so easy in execution. To get from banging a stick against a skin to drumming for a famous band takes years of practice. When I retired after 27 years in the trade I was still learning new things and having to adapt to new machinery and art media.
… the only way to learn this is practice, practice, practice. …
You can become competent at the basics of assembling frames within a couple of weeks but, remember, you are handling other peoples’ valuable artwork. …
This quote rings so true. Between all of us who frame, we have well over 50 years of experience at the Art Supply House. Every week we discover something new – perhaps some particular nuance of how a mat or frame moulding cuts. We are more than competent at the basics of designing and assembling frames, but are always learning and growing as we work through the process with a new, custom project.
- This week’s artist is – James Maria – whose work I ran across in a watercolor show. The subjects and materials handling caught my eye, and I love the description “shuffling dirt and water around on a piece of paper”. Check out his website and instagram for more!
- Can you find the snow leopards? (I found about half.)
- Eventually, the truth comes out.
- I’ve always loved the Calvin & Hobbes comic strip. Here’s some advice from the cartoonist (in both comic and written forms, though the comic was drawn by someone else in Bill’s style).
- Oscar Reutersvard has been called the “father of the impossible figure”.
- Pierre August Renoir would have been 181 on Friday.
- There’s live music scattered about town all week. See what’s available here.
- So that you can get ready, the 6th annual #1Week100people drawing marathon is coming up soon. It’s scheduled for March 7-11th. I love that it was originally imagined as living your best life through the pages of your sketchbook. Here’s more info.
- If you want to make the #1Week100people challenge into even more of a game, they’ve provided a sketching scavenger hunt list.
- Random art joke – I spent most of the weekend fastening pieces of fabric together… it was riveting!
- Miki Harder and Bram Jenkins‘s collaborative exhibition Connecting through Disconnect will be at Studio & from Feb 25-Mar 5th. The opening reception is Friday from 5-9
- The Scrapbook Nook has a week full of classes and projects, if you’re looking for something creative to do. Call them to reserve your spot.
- Did you know some erasers can shorten the life of paintings? I really enjoyed watching the video showing how erasers are made.
- To go along with the eraser video above, here’s a collection of pencil sets, to satisfy a variety of graphite preferences. We also have other sets, or individuals and empty cases and rolls if you want to create your own.
We’ve been fortunate to frame artwork ranging from children’s art the be displayed next to the refrigerator to Rembrandt prints. We try to treat everything equally carefully (because we know it is precious to the person preserving and displaying it).
Having developed a confidence in the foundational basics of framing, we confidently launch further into the more unique framing projects. Those bedrock skills provide a solid platform from which we can experiment and explore.
Michael Jordan, at the height of his basketball career, studiously practiced the basics of the game. He said, “get the fundamentals down and the level of everything you do will rise.”
Practice your foundational skills, whatever they may be. Drawing, color theory, composition, etc. Those basics will help make your art better, allow you to express yourself more fully, will let you work faster and thus create even more art. The world needs you and your art!
Cheers!
Matthew & the Art Supply House crew