Stepping Out
by: Diane Eugster

This is the final frame for the upcoming show at the Meyer Vogl Gallery in Charleston, South Carolina. Diane was invited to participate in this show a few months ago. This frame is the one from my previous blog called the Water Lily Frame.  This picture shows the painting “Stepping Out” in the frame.   I have to apologize for the quality of the picture, we just don’t have a good spot in our temporary Scottsdale apartment for taking them.  I’ll talk more about the final steps leading to the completion of this frame but first let me tell you about this show.

I have no problem admitting that I’m Diane’s biggest fan!  A couple of months ago she was contacted by the Meyer Vogl Gallery and invited to be part of their upcoming show.  Besides being Diane’s framer, photo shoot aide, and fan club I also get to be her artist representative to get her work into galleries.  Although I’ve had success with that it’s much nicer when the gallery contacts her because they’re aware of her work and have been following it on various websites.  So, this is quite an honor for her having her work recognized by her peers and invited to be part of a show in their gallery!  The title of the show is She: A Celebration of the Female Figure.  The show opens on June the third and runs through June the fourteenth.  There are 6 paintings she’s sending them and they will be in the gallery for several months after the show.  The other artists invited to the show are Dan Beck, Quang Ho, Kate Long Stevenson, and Anna Sims King.  Although we’d love to be at the opening of the show Adam and Kim are getting married on the first of June so, needless to say; that takes priority.  Any of you that read my blog and live close to Charleston are more than welcome to go to the gallery and give me a first person report, actually we’d appreciate that a lot!

Lets finish up the work on the frame.  You may recall from the last blog post how the water lily motif and random carved pattern were designed to compliment the brush work of her painting.  My concern was the composition gold faulting over that random carved area but as these picture show, as usual my worrying was needless!

1.) Initial Lay

2.) Pressing into carve — no faulting!

3.) Finishing off frame edges

Once the frame has been carved, sealed, and gilded it is time for final toning to change the garish brassiness of the composition gold to a warm golden glow of a frame that’s seen a bit of history.  There are a number of ways to go about it and I’ve taken a liking to using casein paints for this process.  Here’s a slide show, perhaps you’ll notice the subtle differences from one step to the next even with the poor lighting conditions.  Once we get settled in our new shop situation, making a better tutorial on this process is on my list.

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All except the first of the pictures in the slide show were taken out on the balcony.  That’s turned into my spray booth for the shellac — so far; no complaints!