At this stage of preparations I have ordered relevant frame moulding lengths and gladly most of them have arrived. Unfortunately some key elements to most of my frames are out of stock for up to a month which puts a little bit of stress into the whole affair. This has left me with the question of if I should risk partially making the frames for when the other parts arrive or if I should wait until they come. There is always the risk that they won’t come in time and that could seriously mess things up for me. The risk-taker in me is saying go for it and see what happens! The more logical side of me is telling me to wait until I am sure of what I’m doing before proceeding. After-all I cannot afford to make many mistakes here. Luckily I have been able to make up the November group show (below) out of spare parts I had in the studio plus an extra small length from the lovely local framers in Aberystwyth. More on these soon!
At the moment I my studio and workshop are one and the same. This has been making it very difficult because I can’t have any wet paintings in there while I am cutting frames – the sawdust will infiltrate the paint film. And so I must manage my time carefully in order to not cause any delays or nightmares down the line like not having any paintings for exhibitions! I have already been teased for doing things the wrong way round but making the frames before my paintings are finished works much better for me. I spend months on my paintings and drying times increase as I build up the layers of oil paint. This leaves me with time to work on my sketches and finesse my frames to a high standard.
Another blow I had this week was that I had carefully calculated how many meters of frame I need to cover my whole show but unfortunately I got confused with the price of 3m moulding lengths and price per meter. basically it ended up costing three times more than I had originally bargained for. That is a mistake I am not going to make in a hurry! It’s not all doom and gloom! I am very much enjoying the process and I have been making some great progress with my painting technique. Excitement is growing for my first solo show and I can’t wait to share it all with you!
jonathanretallick.art 