Hello everyone! It's nearing the end of February and what a winter it has been so far! The shop has been a mix of crazy busy and also slower this past 6 weeks and it's been a really neat period since I last sat down to work on a blog post. I've had the opportunity to finally get to some projects that I really wanted to get working on, like some live edge mirrors, as well as build a whole bunch of frames for a new retailer that you'll be able to find my work in.
I've had a chance to reflect on the start to 2019 and something I wanted to highlight was my work with larger prints, canvases and other mediums. Just today I finished up a large 4'x4' photo that a client took herself and had mounted on hardboard. Something I love about working with barn board is that you get to see so much more character in the wood once you get up close.
As you can see above, the top portion of the frame I was able to pull out the feeling you get when you look at a lake, with ripples and waves. Sure enough I found a beautiful board that would match that feeling I had when I looked at the photo.
A photographer that I work with a lot (Ian can be found here) did a photo on a clients farm of a beautiful old truck. He had printed the image and mounted it for me to frame. When I saw the truck with it's rust and character all I could think about was using a board that had a hole in it as it felt like a good match.
Hopefully by now you can see that I don't simply walk into the shop and just pick up a board. I spend a considerable amount of time looking at a piece I'm about to frame. I look for the feeling it gives me when I look at it and imagine how I can highlight that. My goal with framing is always to showcase the piece in the frame by creating something unique around the piece.
The examples below are all very large frames (about 3-4 ft across each) and showcase the different "vibe" I can make with a piece I'm given. Take a look and see if you can feel the various parts of each photo (and quilt) I was trying to highlight.
So when you look around your home. Do you have a large print, canvas or piece that you love but find when you look at it now that it's simply lacking something? There's a lot that can be done with barn board in all types of spaces both modern and older to really enhance a work of art!
As one final example, this one was a small canvas only about 12" across but I think it really gets my point across about how the frame can really highlight an image...
One final thought as I head into the spring season is that I am now accepting requests from retailers looking to offer a beautiful product for their customers. If you are a gallery, a home decor store, interior decorator or a place where people are looking for barn board products get in contact with me, I'd love to chat.