A full day of framing yesterday, cutting backing boards, mounts, glass etc. I've done this so often, it's complex procedure of many steps. I framed the English Triptych (or, perhaps more correctly, series) and the Alien Nativity, and prepared the two paintings for the Chester Grosvenor exhibition. That's about as much as I can manage in a day:
The glass, from Wilkinson, is now in inches; it was, when from Dunelm Mill, a nice 300x400mm, but now I need to, annoyingly, trim off about 4mm from the edge of each side. I'm more confident at glass cutting now, in fact rather enjoy it, thanks to some help from a visit to a stain glass workshop. Clean well, score in one stroke - never cross a line or touch the perfect wheel to anything except virgin glass, then turn the glass over and press with fingers on the score marks to tease them into a crack.
The finished Alien Nativity in its new frame:
That day went to plan but today was the most nightmarish art delivery I've had in my artist life. I've entered a lot of shows, many of course come to nothing. One of the hard jobs of art is packing, labelling, printing forms, walking, train-journeying, carrying, and sometimes simply being rejected and having to do it all in reverse a few days later.
Today Deb and I set off for Chester to enter the first Grosvenor Open since the sad death of Peter Boughton, the former keeper of art and indeed, great cultural figure of the city if not county. To cut a long story short, the trip was successful but hampered by three closed roads, two 4-mile dirt tracks, a closed car park, a £16 purchase of chocolate from Tesco made to pay for the parking, a broken checkout machine then a semi-operational car-park machine, a hailstorm in the country, a rain storm while carrying the paintings, and about 15 miles of diversions across unknown countryside.
I am reminded that life is about battling challenges.
