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As people who know me are aware, I've had my own fair share of challenging moments in my life and this year, particularly this summer, has been quite the speed bump. Not so much for me directly, but a crisis for a close artist friend I've kept in touch with for many years who needed some help. More than a few times, the temptation to fold my tent for a while has seemed like the obvious solution, but in truth there really hasn't been anything to prevent me from getting to the easel other than a severe lack of time, energy and/or concentration. Just that! So I have kept at it when I could, and am glad I did. Although the garden is overgrown and unkempt, the cats are totally convinced they've been neglected and the house has had to get by with an occasional scurryfunge*, somehow the moments when I did make it to the easel have at least sometimes been a surprise in a good way. Granted that isn't a high bar right now. I'm never really attempting to reinvent the wheel, so to speak, but rather just trying to beat myself at my own game. Whether anybody else values them or not, those paintings that come out looking believable and accurate, yet also 'blown on in one puff', are the Holy Grail for me. I wouldn't have guessed that anything close to that would have come about during these past chaotic few months but I'll embrace moments of serendipity any time and any place I can find them.  One key I think to getting lucky with my paintbrushes is dropping all expectations of what the outcome might be other than giving my brain a few hours of relief from it's constant chatter. While it definitely helps to have put in decades of practice solving painting puzzles, relying on that alone to carry me through doesn't produce the results I'm after. I'm always still hoping to push the envelope a bit further and uncover a bit of magic.

Stumbling across a silver lining is what I sometimes refer to as 'reframing'. Reframing, in this sense, isn't welcoming the difficulties but rather backing away enough to get a different perspective and allowing for other possibilities and solutions to gain some traction. It works in much the same way as framing/reframing a painting where simply putting the object of one's vision in a different context will bring attention to or emphasize a different area of  the picture plane.

                                                       "Pansies in Amethyst Vase"    oil/linen    12x10 

                                                        This is recent attempt at capturing a favorite subject matter. I was

                                                        pleased with the simple, balanced composition but what was really

                                                        fun was the way I could almost hear the puzzle pieces click into place.

As far as framing actual paintings, I haven't written much on that topic because it's mostly just a personal taste thing. Well, that and a budget sort of thing since frames can be one of the most expensive additions to an artist's expenditures. Although I don't use up much energy trying to push my taste in frames on anybody, I definitely have some objectives I'm going for when considering how to frame my work. Within reason, I've always tried to put as much money into nice frames as I thought I could justify at the time. Many years ago this involved refinishing or building frames from scratch which is more difficult and time consuming than one might imagine, not to mention takes up a lot of room. Just in general, my belief has always been that a lot of gallery owners don't know that much about art beyond what they think they can and cannot sell, but almost all of them can pick out the most expensive frame. Sometimes that is the difference between whether a painting makes it onto the wall or not, so I have always tried to hedge my bets with the best frames I could afford. 

In general I prefer frames that are classic designs and avoid any that are more attention getting than the painting. To my eye, whatever color the frame is tends to bring out or echo that same color in the painting so that is often what dictates my preferences. Since I'm always trying to emphasize the focal point, I usually lean toward whatever color of frame will enhance that area of the painting.

Above are three options I happened to have in my in my frame inventory and all were made by Stephen Barnhill at AUFrames.com. Although any of these would be a solid choice,  I favor the warmer gold and even more so when viewing them in person rather than computer images. I like the way the ochre color brings out the yellow accents in the bouquet and also the subtle notes of purple in the background are more lively when surrounded by the warm notes in the frame.

"Life beats down and crushes the soul and art reminds you that you have one." -- Stella Adler

* Scurryfunge -- to do a fast, frantic, and often superficial cleanup of a house when you see or know that guests are on their way.