Digital Prep

Mandarins in simple lighting with glass... this value study was fun to do. Getting the values right is even more important than drawing accuracy!

Mandarin Bowl_Digital File_2020Feb

Frames

When I had a pastel professionally framed (pastels present special difficulties, such as the surface cannot touch the inside glass) the result was beautiful and elevated the artwork wonderfully.
   I want to see some of my smallest panels framed, as there are a few I'm fond of and I can add more photos to the ones selling on Etsy, showing how it looks on the wall. That being said, I'm sure the framing charge would be half as much, given that the panels require no glass. I decided however to make some from scratch.
   Building a simple floating frame for small panels proved tricky in terms of measure - because of miter. The math escapes me - I custom fit the first frame and saved the measurements as follows :
16 cm inside measure- this part is hidden behind the panel
24.4 cm outside measure- the part that shows.
20.8 is the width at the bezel- I left a gap of about an inch around the panel- see spacers below.

spacers against bezel

This will leave a little wiggle room around the panel and create a nice shadow for the floating effect.

I glue 2 1/4 in  and half inch square strips together before cutting the lengths. 

About three frames will come from the 5 ft lengths, and these are for 8 in panels.