Pat Craig
Studios

Our client found this wonderful photo including an old Mobil gas station sign and winged Pegasus. Having family ties to Mobil, she had something special she wanted added to the framing of the piece.

Artwork 'before' in its original gallery display mat and frame. The pale values of this combination seem to float away from the composition of the artwork, taking the viewers eye away.

The new, darker framing plays well to the quiet drama of the strokes of the etching and bumps the viewers eye back in and around the piece inviting further inspection of the artworks lovely details.

Artworks collected from favorite places or memorable trips don't have to be costly to keep those wonderful memories actively in sight. These two little original pieces are painted on fabric and mounted to card-stock and were purchased as cards on a clients trip to Sri Lanka. For ease, we often bring home smaller memory items, like these, from our travels or experiences. Here we chose to frame them together, leaving only one of the cards caption box exposed. Another option is to photocopy the information and attach it to the back of the framing, a trip to Sri Lanka is often one of those 'once in a lifetime experiences' and the explanation of the festivities and cultural importance is as important visually as the artwork itself. Its inclusion brings the viewer to an intimate understanding of the artworks themselves, making them truly special memories for all.

We chose a single soft white rag mat to compliment the ivory tones of the fabric behind the artwork. Even though the mat appears to be paper, rag or conservation mats are actually compressed cotton, and their impressed colors often find a natural visual 'fit' when framing fabric pieces. An antiqued black frame with a woven pattern lends just enough exotic nature to represent the source of the artwork, without overwhelming the piece with framing features that might otherwise keep it from feeling compatible with other things collected by this client along her travels. NOTE: Postcards, small prints, greeting cards make inexpensive and easy to transport collectibles to bring home and can be framed in SO many ways.

This Peruvian painting is so quietly detailed and expertly painted, brown sepia on a heavy paper. This earthy piece depicting daily life felt overdressed when looking at mat samples so we chose a leathered bark frame in deep tones to compliment the piece. The shape of the frame mirrors the rooflines and planes of the buildings and together all works to keep the viewers eye traveling around the piece, discovering all its little pockets of charm.

This wild and haunting piece is a combination of inks, water colors, and collage work on paper. We chose a dark really blue-green frame with warm gold undertones beneath the distressed color wash. It worked out to be the perfect accompaniment to the warm goods and oranges in the painting. Spacers keep the glass from resting directly on the artwork. Conventional framing with an added mat felt too, well, conventional for this truly unconventional work.

Portrait of Richard H. McAndrews, Chair of Physical Education and Director of Athletics at Dickinson College painted by famed portrait artist Wilbur Fiske Noyes in 1947. Portrait was commissioned in honor of his 50 working years from Sept. 1911 - Sept. 1961 at Dickinson. Canvas was not only badly sagging and creased but had been punctured in the upper corner and suffering flaking and stress fractures. Much of the background had simply fallen off but much of the teal blues and greens were still a visible stain on the canvas giving me direction for my restoration.

I restretched on new 26 x 32 inch heavy bars, cleaned the painting, repaired the puncture wound and re-gessoed the repaired area, priming it in a greyed-beige tone to better integrate the new oil paint to the aged painting. Unfortunately the painting was stored upside down for many years causing the original varnish to melt, running down to the top and collecting to a thick, dark residue. Always careful not to lift the original paint, removal of the varnish was quite tedious but successful.

Close up of repaired puncture. Many small areas of the face, shirt and background had simply disappeared over the years due to flaking off. Fortunately enough of the canvas remained stained from the original paint to guide me in color direction. Completed portrait was allowed to cure before being revarnished in a non-yellowing clearcoat. I reframed using a simple, deep walnut frame befitting the integrity of the college and age of the portrait and lined it with a natural linen liner to accent and the humbleness of the coach's sweatshirt.

This retro feel frame is a new design replicating the deep, beautifully simple frames popular in the late 1950's. It's softly aged, white finish breathes life into two vastly different pieces. The deep frame guides the viewers eye directly into the art piece. The blue boat piece has shapes, angles & flat planes harmonious with the lines of the frame. The contemporary red "Fields" is dated 1968 and feels right at home in the frames color & styling. Although white frames are generally the least popular among frame choices, this new model changes everything. Both pieces will be beautiful focal points on any colored wall.

Originally intended to be a pillow, we cut off the extra linen. Some faint age stains could not be removed so we carefully pressed it from behind before stretching and pinning to acid free foam board with stainless steel pins. Having been stored away from light for so many years kept these colors vibrant!

Because this is a little memory piece, our client chose to keep it small and simple with no mat. We chose a wood moulding with deep blue painted finish with slight deep red accents mimicking the feel of the embroidered wool crewel piece. A stainless steel needle was threaded with the last thread she’d been working with and fed back into place making the next stitch. (I liked the way it felt to set up the stitch, remembering how much I, too, enjoyed doing needlework before life got in the way.) Clear spacers keep the UV protect glass from crushing the fine fibers of the stitchery.