Signed And Framed

 

It took a while, but the last of my six tiny 2x2" paintings were framed up yesterday. I'm so happy with how sharp they all look and am thrilled to unleash them for sale in the shop on Wednesday next week (the 21st)! I gilded some 4" wood panels that I mounted the individual paintings to and that really gives them such a fantastic presence. Above you can see two of the paintings in their frames ("The Last Buffalo" and "The Pitcher Plant Room") and one in-progress shot I took of a piece while applying the gold leaf (aptly titled "Not Lunch Yet").

This will be the first batch of paintings I've done where I used a maker's mark/seal on the back, too. Last month I hand-carved a signature seal with my initials along with a simplified polychaete. I then mounted it to a piece of a branch from a cherry tree taken from my childhood home (the tree was chopped down some time ago, but while visiting there I managed to swipe a branch for my own devious purpose). The outcome is a very personal, handmade seal that I now use to stamp on the back of my paintings along with a title, signature, and date. Adds a bit more "me" to something I send out into the wilds of the world.