Ever since I took down the paintings off of my walls earlier this month I have not drawn or painted a single picture. My afternoons have been jam packed with other activity. I patched, sanded and painted all the holes (over 200 of them). I painted the interior of my walk-in closet, a couple of doors and 2 accent walls. I reconfigured my garage: relocated my pull-up bar, rearranged storage and dragged two unused doors up into the attic. I debrided my paintings and gave most of them away. I removed the now superfluous door hardware from my bedroom and bathroom door frames then patched, sanded and painted to give them a finished look. I painted most of my window frames so that after my new windows are installed, I’ll only have to do touch ups.
As these projects wound down, I sorted through my remaining paintings and chose some to hang. I did the same with the small envelope of photos I saved after my wife died. I ended up hanging 8 photos, 8 watercolors in and 4 oil paintings.
I am enjoying having a few cherished pieces of art to look at vs. the overwhelming number of paintings I had previously displayed.
I miss the frames my wife and I once owned. They were ornate, aged, unique and original. Oftentimes, I would spend as much time looking at the frame as I would at the artwork itself. I find myself doing the same at museums.
My searching for affordable interesting frames online and at thrift stores yielded nothing. So I decided to try and build a few as an experiment.
I don’t have the tools or the skills to make anything elaborate. Instead I am aiming for a weathered/distressed style that appeals to my sense of taste as well as my limited woodworking skills.
We’ll see if I like them when they are finished. I am in the process of staining them today. They are definitely “rough”.
As I worked on this project, I realized that I could have bought better looking frames for about the the same cost as the materials I purchased to make them.
Sometimes though, it’s not just about the money.
This project has given me many days to research frame building. I’ve learned more about measuring, cutting and finishing. It’s consumed nearly of week of free time.
I’ll expect l will resume drawing and painting again. When I do, I won’t be creating the same type of artwork I’ve done in the past. It’s time for me to learn something new. When sorting through my artwork it was obvious I was creating the same thing over and over again.
I’m pleased with the final results shown below.
