My miniatures project this week has been making framed "paintings" -- which, like my petit-point carpets, are almost always not for any particular spot in a room, but just because I like them.
"The Lincoln Children" (1845) by Susan Waters, "Girl in a Green Dress" by the mid-20th century Swedish portraitist David Tägtström (unfortunately there is not much on the internet about him in English), "Flatford Mill" (more on this below), "Musical Instruments" (1908) by Georges Braque, an early-20th century country landscape that I regrettably failed to identify when I saved the image, a modern landscape probably still under copyright, "Lady with her Horse" (ca.1840) by the prolific "English School", and the abstract "Arrested Movement" (1934) by the Australian Roy de Maistre.
My current method of making these is to print out images on as heavy a watercolor paper as my printer will handle, brush on a layer of artist's medium -- sometimes smooth, sometimes thicker and textured to give the impression of paint -- then cut them out with a border, and after making the frame, to glue the picture to the back, with luck hiding the white edge completely.
These mouldings are all Mayberry Street ones, step casings and baseboards and whatnot, as they are fairly easily available in person. I have used the Minwax stain pens before, and they are certainly easy, but they do tend to dry out if you don't use them regularly, and I usually end up putting on too much (trying to get the stain to drop down into the tip of the pen) and it takes ages not to be sticky -- that countryside landscape is finished with Dark Walnut. But then I discovered that the Martha Stewart satin craft paint in "Vanilla Bean" is a beautiful dark brown, and used that on the rest of these, to very good effect I think! I finished them with a light coat of DuraClear gloss varnish just to give them a little more shine. The gold is the Martha Stewart metallic craft paint.
The hardest part for me seems to be cutting the mouldings exactly the same size, because even a 32nd of an inch makes a noticeable tweak in a frame at 1:12 scale. I have taken to taping two pieces of moulding together (back-to-back) and cutting them in the miter box at the same time but sometimes even this is not quite successful.
I had the idea of adding in a faux mat on some of the frames, and so have been experimenting with it -- some in gold, some in Martha Stewart "Wedding Cake" which I had on hand, having used it for the stencils in the Hardy House breakfast room. It's very fiddly, and my hand is not quite steady enough yet for it to look clean, but it adds a nice touch.
The picture of the Flatford Mill (in East Bergholt, Sussex) is actually a photograph! It came out even better than I hoped. The reflections in the water still look slightly photographic, but the mill itself has that flat realism that reminds me of some of Carrington's work, like "The Farm at Watendlath" and "The Mill at Tidmarsh".
"Landscape with Blossoms"! by Adrian Allinson (British, 1890-1959). Don't see a date for the painting itself, though.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adrian_Allinson
Posted by: Jeanne | October 27, 2018 at 10:30 AM
Nice work. I particularly like the two colour frame on the girl with the green dress.
Posted by: Dawn in NL | October 29, 2018 at 01:51 AM