Sights and Insights
Today much of the East coast is shut down because of a winter storm that has crossed the country in recent days. These pictures are from a short early morning hike on the Sand Spring Trail near Shartlesville, PA, following a recent gentle snowfall.
Walking around Old San Juan the I noticed the fellow in the featured picture studying the textures of the wall around the old city. That triggered my interest in the textures on the ancient Spanish construction.
On the hillside next to the old Spanish barracks near the Castillo San Felipe del Morro live dozens, if not hundreds of cats. Here are pictures of a small sample. They are not feral cats. They are well cared for, with plenty of food laid out for them. They appear to be healthy and friendly. One particularly friendly cat ran up to me when I stooped to soot a picture. A local resident who we asked about them told us they are there to control the rats in the ancient buildings. I captured pictures of a small sampling.
Up to now, I’ve largely avoided “How to” posts in the nearly ten years I’ve been doing this blog.
As every artist knows, frames are a big expense. In my experience, most good commercially-available frames are easily damaged. I’ve been making my own frames from scratch for some time. I’m much happier with the results than the ones I’ve purchased.
A big part of my studio time is spent matting and framing both my own work and fabricating the frames Martha Ressler uses for her Art Quilts. This post is about how I make the frames for my larger photographs.
I manufacture frames with several different profiles. Though they are all pretty much variations on a theme, the profiles and materials depend on what they are used for. For my large photo frames, I use poplar wood stained ebony. I also use reclaimed barn wood for Martha’s frames and burned and brushed cedar for my small encaustics. In later posts, I will illustrate these variations as well as my finishing process.
I begin with 1 x 2 boards ripping them in a simple profile ideally suited for glazing and double-matted prints. I use a fine-cutting 80-tooth miter blade to cut the joints, resulting in a nearly perfect fit virtually every time. As you will see in the pictures below, I’ve devised a stop on my miter saw fashioned from a long pipe clamp that hardly gets used for its intended purpose. I decided to use that rather than purchasing a chop saw table with stops partly because for the expense and partly for space considerations. I’ve also developed a homemade clamping system fashioned from ratcheting hold-down straps, that works much better than commercially available clamping systems I’ve tried.
2018 was the wettest year on record in our county and much of the East Coast. These are pictures from a New Year’s Day hike along the Union Canal Trail along the Tulpehocken Creek. The creek is swollen, with uprooted trees laying int he river and the bogs on either side of the trail over lysaturated.
This is the latest chapter in my adventures along the Appalachian Trail in Berks County. Most of these photos were captured along the Sand Spring Trail leading to the AT from Shartelsville, PA. The Northkill Creek cascades over the rocks beside the equally rocky trail.
