A very full day yesterday assembling lots of art paperwork and 80Mb or so of images for my exciting debut with Oil Art Advisory. I've supplied information about every artwork, written more than perhaps ever about them. I keep lots of technical information, but not so much analysis of the artworks as art, only a few hints about inspirations.
Today, adjusted my website to reflect the new gallery, then went out early with Deb for some shopping. My main job of the day though was an update to The Love Reliquary. I've made a few changes:
First, removing the 'tree' plates which were designed to screw the cabinet to its oak base. These used clay to cover the screws, so this needed to be removed. These plates are now optional, to be fitted when the base requires them.
Then, fitting mirror plates to the rear. I've chosen 4 plates, not 2, as opening the doors means motion, and I don't want the cabinet to wobble.
One final change was working out how to secure the paintings, as these can fall out at times. All three panels (today reminded me) are fixed using magnets, but the magnets are not quite strong enough to hold them firmly. I pondered many different solutions but the simplest was to add another magnet. This is perfect, it's not even permanent, as it can be removed as required.
I've made a special 'key' tool to hook behind the left painting, allowing it to be pulled free. Without this, there would be ne way to remove it. The central panel uses a hole in the rear of the case, and the heart-shaped hole in the right panel can be pulled to remove that.
The extra magnet now means there is a gap between the panel and the box. the wobble annoys me, so I'll need to cut a surround to calm it. I've also ordered more gold size to go with the new gold leaf I ordered on Friday. The gold leaf is now 3 times more expensive as it was the last time I ordered it; for the price of 75 leaves then I now have only 25.
I need to cut this surround (something like a spacer, from board), and some arch-shaped bubble wrap for storage. Then, paint the inner edges with a base in preparation for gilding, which I'll probably do on Wednesday, as I expect the gold and size on Tuesday in the day, which may be too late to begin in these dark days.
