One Ends, One Begins

This picture is the end point of one commission, and the beginning point of another.

The frame in back is for my most recently-completed piece.  I’m delivering it tonight, and am very excited to see it up on the collectors’ wall.  Hopefully they will allow me to share some pictures of it in it’s final destination.

What you see in front is the panel for my current commission.  I made a panel for the project last week, but it developed a warp as it dried.  I don’t work with flawed materials, so I set it aside and constructed a new one yesterday.  Fortunately, I built in extra time in the schedule just for problems like that.  In the above picture, the linen has been glued to the panel and the stone slabs are weighting it down for even drying pressure.

I used the extra time yesterday to give my studio a thorough cleaning.  I try to keep things tidy in there, but the 90 day project, followed by a major show and completing the recent piece, had left it worse for wear.  Like all commissions, this one is important, and I knew I would approach it with a clearer head and fresher eyes if my work space was pristine, so it was time well spent.

After letting it dry overnight and trimming away the excess linen, I could see that I had a perfect panel this time, and I’m totally satisfied with the outcome.

For the specifics, it’s Belgian linen (Claessen’s Style 15DP oil primed) mounted to a cradled hardboard panel using neutral PH PVA adhesive.  That’s about as solid and permanent a support as I know how to make.  The dimensions are 24×30 inches with a depth of about an inch.

OK.  Ready to go.