And a Happy New Year to you.
I hope it’s a prosperous one for us all, though that’s probably somewhat optimistic. Doom and gloom, howling winds and driving rain are the order of the day, so I am consoling myself with a bar of The Chocolate Library’s finest 70% cocoa solids dark chocolate, sent to me as a Christmas gift from the very talented, very lovely photographer, Brendan MacNeill. Thank you Brendan – I hope that 2012 is a good one for you.
It is exactly one year since I moved into my Jamaica Street premises and given the gales outside right now I am glad to be in a basement. I wouldn’t put money on the roof at my last place coming out unscathed.
The move to the New Town has been a good one and I have met lots of new people and enjoyed working on some interesting and varied projects. I was particularly pleased to have been involved with the framing and hanging at Centotre and The Scottish Cafe and hope to do more of that kind of work in the coming year.
During the Christmas break, me and hubs managed to catch the Elizabeth Blackadder exhibition at the Scottish National Gallery – one day before it closed. The work on show spanned nearly six decades and there was much lovely stuff. However, as usual, I was as much taken with examining the frames as the paintings and couldn’t help but notice just how much a frame contributes to enhancing a piece of art. Some of the earlier pieces were clearly framed when the artist had little budget and as such were framed unsympathetically – or just not very well. There was a marked difference with other, more recent pieces where a skilled framer had been employed and for me, that really influenced my enjoyment of the work.
I would be interested to know what the view is for artists and galleries and indeed, collectors, where re-framing an original painting is concerned. Should it be kept in its original frame, to keep its authenticity? Or does it depend on its condition? Or is it just personal taste? Comments welcome.
As usual, I plan to take photos of my more interesting commissions this year, with the intention of displaying the results here on my blog. And that’s probably the closest I’ll get to making a new years resolution.
Posted by Carol 
