Borders and Backing

Until a few months ago I always saw it as yet another constraint. I used to have to cut mounts at college many years ago and it was a nightmare with a small craft knife and metal ruler; but recently I considered the idea of buying a proper mount cutter and, once I started looking into it, there really wasn't a problem but just another challenge.

And then a generous friend told me that she does her own mount-cutting and that I could go to her house for a cuppa and a demonstration. Well there was no stopping me after that, and I bought a mountcutter that's similar to the one I tried at her house.

I am now busy creating borders and backing sheets for many of my drawings, particularly the life drawings which are really rather precious to me and deserve to be presented and preserved as well as sold to appreciative art lovers.

Here's the drawing that inspired 'Lady In Red'.

Exciting New Work

Like most other artists, I always work on several ideas at the same time. It's great to have something that needs finishing, especially when I know what it needs. It's great, too, to have a new canvas (or even a used one) that requires covering with whatever I feel like putting on it! And I love the challenge of 'making it work' when something I've created doesn't look right and needs some attention.

Here is one of my popular line drawings, normally created on paper in a smooth flowing black line during a hunch of inspiration; but this one is on canvas - simple, clean, lightweight and ready to hang with a cord or with mirror-plates. It is a black oil paint line on a white vinyl silk background. It needs a little more work on it (I have an idea...) but I have to wait for the oil paint to dry before I can try it.

36" x 14" standard canvas

And this red canvas has been prepared with texture and paint using ONLY MY HANDS as tools... You JUST WAIT to see what beauty adorns it now! .... soon to be displayed on my Affordable British Art Gallery

24" x 30" deep edge canvas

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Spring Into Colour with SABAB

I'm catching up with my blog today because I've been so busy in the past week going back and forth to Montrose (25+ miles from here) to help set up our South Aberdeenshire Abstracts (SABAB) exhibition called 'Spring Into Colour'.

Yesterday we had an 'opening event' so here are some photos, including a shot of yours truly which would be a good one if only I wasn't caught eating a cake!

The Scottish TV local website has been interested in what we do and its fab editor wrote a very good review of the show which you can read here  There are some pictures there too.

Detail

It's really difficult to get a good close-up photo of the texture on this painting!

... But the title I've given it is 'Wistful Moments'