I had an interesting afternoon today, visiting both the Apothecary Gallery, where I am to exhibit next month, and Andy Rushworth, who frames most of my work for me. On both occasions I found that I came away with the same message, namely, that attention to detail is important.
I use a professional framer for most of my work for the simple reason that I can never produce anything like the level of precision that is necessary. A good part of that is, of course, a matter of having the correct tools for the job. At least as important, however, is the matter of judgement. It might seem at first sight that small differences in the tone and grain of wood are relatively trivial. This is far from being the case. Andy put next to one of my pictures two samples of frame, one of oak the other of ash, and it was remarkable what a difference the choice made to the overall “feel” of the picture.
The visit to the Apothecary Gallery was similarly instructive. I was encouraged to discover that the space will probably accommodate a larger number of pictures than I had originally imagined. The impression with which I came away, however, was that I need to pay attention to the sizes of what I offer. The gallery is not very spacious, and my prior impression was that I would need to restrict my display to relatively small items. Looking around the gallery, however, it was clear that there are some sites that will accommodate quite large pieces. Chosen with care, these could add considerably to the impact of the display as a whole. The show will benefit from careful attention to this detail.