I had lots of the monoprints I've created framed to sell at Wisley and am absolutely thrilled with how they look framed. I've only collected half the work so far and am really looking forward to getting the other half back later this week.
These are various sizes as you can tell from the writing below the prints on the left. The right hand size ones are much smaller, especially the bottom two. I mounted them all on some decent, acid free cartridge paper so I could title and/or sign them and then had Alastair (picture framer) window mount them so that each one is in a bespoke frame. I opted for a cheaper very simple wood effect frame for all of these.
For this (and a couple of similar others) I opted for a slightly more expensive moulding as I thought they would look better in a softer moulding:
It's thinner, more rounded and more charcoal than black. It was quite hard choosing frames for selling rather than just exhibiting with the possibility of a sale. Also I had to be slightly careful as I didn't want to make the frames so expensive that they out-priced the prints, but I wanted everything to look beautiful and well thought out as well as obviously setting the work off to the best possible advantage. Even if someone buys an unframed print I want to give them an idea how it could look framed and encourage them to frame it as well as possible!
I had a few of my editioned prints framed too, a couple for the first time and I'm particularly delighted with how my lithograph has turned out (ignore the slightly strange reflection of the ceiling light - I had to lie things flat on the bed to photograph them as the least reflective place but couldn't get rid of all reflection!).
I had this one done in the lovely dark charcoal moulding which seems to suit a lot of my work and it really suits to and elevates it. I had a moment of "YES!" when I saw it. I've always wondered whether in needed a little something to complete it but this really made me think that no, it IS finished, it just needed a good frame!
I'm really excited about Wisley, and nervous! I want to design something lovely but fairly simple to demonstrate while I'm there and get the first layer printed so at least that one can be fully dry before I go and pile more in over it. I have no idea how much time I'll have to actually do the demo's but hopefully I can get started in the morning and it'll at least be a talking point! I'm hoping that if I'm busy working away and chatting at the same time people will feel freer to browse and take their time as well as give them an understanding of what goes in to making a print as I'm sure most people think it involves computers somewhere!
It's rather a fascinating thing as it's 5 days it feels like an exhibition more than a fair. I find I'm really planning how to group things and what sort of thing I want to say to people to tell them about my work. It's very exciting. I'm hoping that making the video will help with the thought process. I'm even considering popping the video, or at least a portion of it, on the front page of my website if I can get it done in time... we'll see!