Oh my….I’ve been so remiss! It took me FOREVER to get to “Rahab”. At my last post, I was just trying to get my eyes cleared up from infections on my corneas; that took over two months, into November! From early November to early January, I was undergoing a battery of tests brought on by some not-very-good blood work reports from my doctor. I had to have sonograms and CT scans and numerous visits to doctors for their specialties in whatever “ailed” me. It’s scary when you have a certain screening, and that report shows something negative that requires a more extensive test. These things consumed a lot of my thought life, and in between all that were the Christmas holidays. Finally, in the first week of January, the last test result came back; ALL the tests turned out to be false alarms. Almost immediately, I came down with a very nasty sinus/respiratory illness that was pretty debilitating; that finally cleared up enough, after about 3 weeks, for me to get to work on Rahab. Rahab’s face went through several metamorphosis in the pattern stage, and even more during the painting process. She was hard to paint, and did not fall into place nearly so easily as “The Woman At The Well” did, but I got ‘er done! I’m still not sure whether I may make a change in the window frame behind her, and I have yet to do the scriptures lettering for her story, but I have finalized, just this evening, which ones I want to use, and it’s now a matter of going into the studio to make the pattern for them, and then just do it! 
A lot has gone on since my last post. After I took The Woman At The Well to the framer, I began to experience some eye problems. One of the problems was I just couldn’t see worth a hoot anymore! I have been to the doctor 3 times since the first week of September, and little by little, he has been getting my eyesight more back to normal. I had inflamed and swollen corneas, brought on by trying out a new mascara which happened to be waterproof–big mistake! Particles of it, which don’t dissolve, got into my eyes and just irritated the starch out of them. I had a week of antibiotic drops and no contacts; then a week of trial lenses to try out, which didn’t help my vision that much; then some tweaking of the prescriptions and ordering more trial contacts to see how they do when they come in. That will necessitate a fourth trip to the doc’s office. We’ll see how that works out. So far, he has my vision at 20/25 for both eyes and previous doctors could get me only to 20/30. I think he will do whatever is possible to get me the best vision I’m capable of. It may not be perfect 20/20, but it has to be better than what I was experiencing before! On the same day (this last Wednesday) I stopped by the framer’s and finally got The Woman At The Well. SHE’S BEAUTIFUL! I love the job my new framer did in putting her together. What do you think?
Now that “The Woman At The Well” is completed and at the framer’s, I cannot rest on my laurels. Rahab is a prostitute from the Old Testament who put her faith to work to save some men of God, and in the process, saved her whole family from destruction. Amina Antoury is again my model for this woman. I photographed her as Rahab at the same time I had photographed her as the woman at the well. I’m sad she won’t see the original art while she’s here over Labor Day unless we take a trip to Artistically Framed; estimated framing completion date is 9/17. Anyway, Rahab should be interesting because I get to paint a “painted lady”, with her hair showing and some flashy jewelry and clothes. Should be fun! Again, it will be a stroke by stroke chronology of its creation. See additional info. at facebook: https://www.facebook.com
Today, Jim and I researched framers in the area, extending all the way to Harrisonburg, VA and Inwood, WV. I really didn’t want to go that far afield, so we began by looking in the local area. There were several listed in the Winchester/Stephens City vicinity. After calling three, none of which answered and I just got a recorded message, I finally found one where a real live person answered the phone. As if that wasn’t exciting enough for a Monday, I really liked what they had to say, so a bit later, Jim and I rode up there with “The Woman At The Well” and her accompanying lettering, my molding and filet, and I left her with Artistically Framed, LLC. He is a one-person framer; his only other help is his partner in the business and office manager, who also is very nice. I put a red suede mat around that girl, and I can’t wait to see her finished in mid-September, when he estimated he’ll be able to get to her in light of his current backlog, but I’m in the que, at least! I pray this is the person God led me to, to frame His project, and anything else I might need to frame. Right now, I’m feeling so positive and happy about finding this shop! I bit the bullet and invested the money into museum-grade glass rather than ordinary, conservation-grade glass. According to what I saw there, it should really make the work pop, as if there were no glass over it at all! I was amazed! No reflections, no glare, still 99% infrared screened out as in conservation glass, and color impacted not one little bitty iota. There is no other glass that can do that! I guess that’s why museums use it…
Ah, the lettering is finished! I have to say that it sure ain’t perfect and definitely looks hand done, but then again, back in that day, EVERYTHING was hand done, and was not perfect, including writing. I think it does what it’s supposed to do, and all that remains now is for me to take the image and the lettering to a framer. I wonder how it would look with a red suede mat??
This evening I began and finished the transferring process of the lettering pattern onto the nice, chestnut brown paper I purchased yesterday. I thought about starting some actual lettering with ink, but then realized I needed to clean my pen nibs and the pen holder which contains a small ink well. So, I came upstairs and plunked them into some soaking/cleaning solution I also bought yesterday. 🙂 I’m waiting until tomorrow to start the actual lettering because my arm is a little cramped–it always gets me in the elbow–and I want to rest it, so tomorrow it should be ok after a night’s rest. I’ve learned that if I try to push through on a lettering project with a tired arm, I just tend to rush to finish, and grow sloppier and sloppier as my arm hurts more, in an effort to hurry up and finish. After the lettering is complete, I will put some sort of gold scroll border, as yet to be designed, around the lettering to set it off. Should be really pretty, if all turns out as envisioned.
Early this afternoon I headed out to the local Hobby Lobby and Michael’s stores. I prefer to purchase my art supplies from online sources or a great art supply place near VCU in Richmond, but right now I don’t have the time for either of those options, and these stores filled a necessary gap. About 3 hours later and $140 lighter, I came home with various papers, India and calligraphy inks, a pastel pencil set, and a kit containing pastel blenders, sharpeners, and other small paraphernalia for working with pastels, calligraphy markers, and metallic gold and silver markers. Jim and I carried them all down to the studio this evening and compared the papers with the original, and I like them. I will end up using two separate pieces of paper under one mat with separate openings for each: the image in one, and the lettering in the other, at the bottom. I think this will really work! As Scarlett would have said, “Tomorrow is another day!”
I have been exploring ideas and various options for solving the lettering problem at the bottom of “The Woman At The Well”, but I have been unable to come up with a viable solution. Somehow, there has to be a good way to get the lettering on there that looks good. I will find it, just like I found a solution to the background dilemma, but it may take more time than I care to admit…especially since I want to DO IT NOW! I can’t have the lettering be a deal breaker for the looks of this piece! Ok God, You brought me to this, now please help me get through this! It’s gotta look good for You!
Now that the image for “Woman At The Well” is finished, I have been crashing all day. When I work, I run so much on adrenalin, especially when things are flowing fantastically well, that once I’m done, I can’t turn my mind off. Consequently, I have not slept much for the last several nights. Today, I had issues with staying awake all day long. I am debating whether or not to take tomorrow off from painting, or just get back to the studio, tackle all that lettering, and get it out of the way…
Recent Comments