Adventure in Framing

A major project is finished, one that's been occupying Fio's dining room table for two months now: framing Son's 8x40 digital painting, "Time Flies."  The picture is set in Georgetown and features the stone archway to Wolf Ranch (the actual former ranch, not the shopping center), but most of the trees at the other end of the painting were drawn from those on our acreage.  The blowing leaves in the center, however, came from his imagination. The result is strangely moving, and we have the first print of a limited edition of twenty.

But--how to frame an artwork forty inches long and just eight inches high?  That's where the ever-fertile brain of Fiorella enters the--uh--picture.  Fio, who financed printing the art piece, didn't want to also drop $200-$300 on the framing, and she needed the frame to be light enough to be hung easily.  So she backed the picture with black foamboard, then attaching a specially-cut mat to the front to hold the art in place, then used a hot-glue gun to attach the four pieces of the stained pine frame which she had cut on the mitering machine. Small screws were drilled into a horizontal slat of pine glued to the back of the foamboard, picture was wire attached, and--voila!

Of course, Fio's leaving out the thirty dollars worth of molding that didn't work.  And the three other fixatives she tried to use before husband thought of the glue gun.   And the blood, sweat, and tears.   But now, she'll admit, she's eyeing a second of Son's paintings, also with odd measurements, though not as extreme.

It should be a snap.

Springtime

Fio finally changed out the bright red Christmas tablecloth yesterday for one painted with pink springtime flowers.  It wasn't just that she was running behind, but that there were three projects piled on the dining table she had to get through first--the anniversary album, the framing of Son's digital painting, and the genealogy stuff.  The album, she finished; the half-done framing of the painting, she moved to the guest room for now; and the genealogy stuff, she stacked on her desk.

The framing will probably be finished this coming week and the genealogy stuff can't go any further till she hears from Cousin Sue or Cousin Syd.  Meanwhile a million more projects will pop up.  And what about that book Fio's supposed to be working on?

Prospective Projects

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, the ever-busy Fio is going great guns.

First of all, Fio has finally come up with a method to compare and contrast the two major photos she now has of her ggmother Kate, the ones that look like they're of two different people.  She's planning to photocopy both pictures, enlarge the photocopies, then measure the lengths of the faces down the middle and their widths across the cheekbones. 

Another item on Fio's list is framing an 8"x40" digital painting by Younger Son.  Needless to say, Hobby Lobby doesn't carry frames of the appropriate size so Fio will have to improvise.  (Improvise,  as you know by now, is Fiorella's middle name. )

To top it off, Fio's decided to put together a booklet of her poems similar to the one she put together in memory of Wendy Dog. Not all of her poems, of course, just the personal ones--the ones that hurt.

She'll provide timely updates.