It’s a Frame Up – the Painting that is!

Photo of Bella a mixed breed I'm going to paint.

Framing is sometimes difficult. What looks good to one person, may not look good to another. Many artists sell canvases and let the buyer select their own frame saving the client money.

Other artists prefer to select the perfect frame for their painting only to find out the buyer has later switched to a frame of their own preference. It’s a quandary.

The only time the frame seems to matter is in juried competition. Here the education and experience of the judge colors his or her opinion. A frame that you think enhances and compliments your painting may be seen through the eyes of the judge to be obtrusive, overwhelming or distracting. What’s an artist to do?

16 x 20 drawing on canvas of Bella

I found a web site that was very informative. I’m sharing the link and some of the content with you here:

"Choosing the right frame for paintings and prints enhances both appearance and value, but choosing the wrong frame does an artwork no favors.

"Frames are rather like film stars' dresses on the Red Carpet. The perfect one flatters the celebrity model and makes headlines. A bad choice is dissected by the Fashion Police. Like the unfortunate starlet, a painting can be underdressed, overdressed, or simply surrounded by something that is not “age appropriate.”

"Auctioneers recognize how frames affect fine art lots on the podium. Leslie Hindman in Chicago emphasizes that the artwork is the most important element, but “a bad frame is jarring and it takes away from the painting.”

“I think private individuals appreciate when a work comes with a very nice frame,” Hindman continued. “If you have something that is good and it is framed in a nice period frame, it can add to the value.”

"In previous centuries, frames were often carefully selected by the artist. Preserving the original frame on an artwork – like an original finish on antique furniture – bolsters value. The borders chosen by an artist may be plain or elaborate, but they are part of the object's history and integrity.

"Joe Standfield of Hindman's Fine Art Department cited the case of an untitled 1945 landscape painting by regional American painter Marvin Cone (1891-1964) that sold in September for $156,400. “For this particular painting, pretty much everyone we spoke with who were potential buyers – museums, private collectors, galleries – commented on the fact that it appeared to be the original frame,” he said.

“That particular painting had been in the family for an extremely long time; the provenance was impeccable. The great provenance and the original frame were the two things that enhanced the value of this beautiful painting.”

"Home at Last" 16 x 20 acrylic on canvas

"On the other hand, Stanfield noted, “A more ornate gilded frame would certainly make more sense on a 19th-century French painting.” Frames should be appropriate for the artwork's period and style, not a reflection of current fashions in interior design. In June 2009, Leslie Hindman held an auction devoted to period frames.

"Jerry Holley, vice president of Dallas Auction Gallery, agrees that frame selection can have a subtle but sizable effect on a painting's appeal to customers. “You see nice little Southwestern paintings from the 1920s or 1930s that are in their very simple original period frames,” he explained. “Everybody makes a big deal out of it and comment on the frames.”

“It does seem to affect value. If you see that same painting in an ornate gilt frame that doesn't fit it at all, people just don't have the same perception of the painting. Sometimes people don't really realize what the problem is, but - if you had them side by side in the two different frames – it would be obvious.”

"Winston" 12 x 16 OIL on canvas SOLD

“It can work the other way too,” Holley continued. “ A good Victorian painting that originally had an ornate carved gilt frame on it – if you see it now in a plain black modern frame, that would do nothing for it at all. No doubt about it, it can have a very significant effect on the look of a painting and – at auction – on the value of paintings.”

LINK:
Read more: http://acn.liveauctioneers.com/index.php/component/content/article/70-acn-staff/1653-art-101-the-wrong-frame-does-a-painting-no-favors#ixzz2GfBPMcl3

When Paintings Sing and Images Dance

I finished my bird house painting, and decided to add a couple bluebirds for interest. The painting has an old-fashioned look, but the colors are bright and modern. This 16x20 acrylic was done on a panel which makes it less expensive to buy. Prints may be purchased online at: http://carol-allen-anfinsen.artistwebsites.com  The original may be purchased by contacting me.

Before I begin a painting, I see a finished product in my mind. I know how I want it to look, what colors I want to use, and almost everything about it. So why does it change as I go along? In the grip of creating and expressing, unexpected things happen. Happy coincidences occur with the swipe of a brush or an addition of color.

A dash of pink or coral in one place ends up in the wood on the bird house or branches making an ordinary painting sing! Subtle changes in form or line create unusual negative shape. Playful brush strokes end up giving a painting more fluidity, more energy. Each element becomes part of a whole that creates cohesiveness, consistency and energy.

 I’ve written about the “evolution” of a painting before; but each time it happens, I’m still amazed with the process.

I shared with you how the images I see on my bathroom floor in the wet or dry imprints left after a shower inspire ideas. Seeing a “Whirling Dervish,” I did some preliminary research and made my first sketch.

When I transferred the drawing to a larger canvas (18x24), I was struck by how symmetrical it was. I looked at some reference photos I’d found online, and made a second drawing over the first with charcoal. That way, if I changed my mind, I could easily wipe off the charcoal and go back to the first penciled sketch.

I like the second drawing better than the first. Although there are no scimitars, the irregular negative space is much more interesting. Variation in size and position of the prayer dancers, contribute more energy and smoother eye flow. The next time you see this canvas it will be as a finished painting.

Featured Artist
Paul Hilario’s name, style and life match his upbeat name and his paintings.

“My style is eclectic,” Paul says. “I mix and match impressionism with pop, low brow, fauvism, and cubism. You can see that sometimes my backgrounds are impressionist, my light and composition is cubist but my characters are always pop and cartoonish in nature. Most galleries will label my work as naive art."

Paul was featured in 1^st Angel Arts Magazine. To read about Paul and see more of his paintings go to:

http://1stangel.co.uk/talkthetalk/paul-hilario-talks-the-talk-with-1stangel-arts-magazine/

Love can’t be stored or saved; it’s best when given away!

Vikeholmen Lighthouse II, oil on 16x20 canvas

My dear friend Dorothy baked bread for as long as she was able. “Just like my mother used to make,” she lovingly boasted. Whenever I’d visit, she’d plop a fresh warm loaf in my hands and send me away with a smile and a part of herself.

I loved her recipe. You could make it at night, and let it rise in the refrigerator until the next day. Once, I put too much dough into my Tupperware bowl, and the yeast caused it to bubble up, open the lid, and spill onto my shelves and bottles.

Seeing the mess, made me think of a story about the girl and the porridge. She received a magic soup pot from a woman in the forest who told her what to say to start it cooking and to get it to stop. She would never be hungry again! But when the porridge was cooked, the little girl forgot the magic words to make it stop. The porridge spilled over onto the floor, out the front door, and into the streets of the village.

Love and creativity are like that, too. If you smother the urge, the inspiration, and try to keep it all to yourself it will find other outlets. Like yeast dough spilling from Tupperware or the magic pot bubbling over with soup, creativity (another form of love) spills over with sometimes unexpected consequences.

"Robin Hood" 16x20 acrylic on canvas

My coffee blog a few days ago is a good example. There are people who go to coffee houses and then create art or doodle with their coffee, drawing admiring crowds. These entrepreneurs paint with their fingertips and Stir Styx to create wonderful scenes in the chocolate and whip cream swirls on the top of their coffee. Creativity – you can’t hold it down.

When I lived in Kansas City, our favorite restaurant was Stephenson’s Apple Farm. An old apple cider barn and orchard made room for a wonderful dining spot full of antiques and dried apple dolls. Rather than let those withered apples rot when they fell to the ground, “creative’s” ingeniously made them into dolls. The withered apples became the heads after first carving a simple face into the pulp. As the apple dried, the features twisted unexpectedly into either smiling or snarling faces. 

They were so ugly, they were adorable. Each face had its own personality. Coming from an old Pioneer art form, the dolls attracted many tourists to the restaurant. Of course, their home style brisket, cinnamon apple slices and broccoli cheese casserole didn’t hurt their business either.

(In Progress) bird house; acrylic on 16x20 panel

Some people claim to have no creativity. I don’t believe it! You just haven’t discovered yours yet. What are the things you love? What do you enjoy spending your time doing? In most instances there’s a creative component, whether your joy is cooking, decorating, or having a flare for the dramatic. Capture your love and express it!