Ashton's rustic frame for There Is Help For You
By Ashton R. Young
Ashton Young completed the design and fabrication of this frame in April 2016 in the workshops at BenHaven. The roughness of the frame’s weathered wood represents the handcart and the ruggedness of the subject’s ordeal. Elspeth’s hand-painted chickadee in the lower left of the frame’s liner extends to the viewer the same message of hope represented by the chickadees perched in the tree limbs above the figure.
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| Texture is one of the primary qualities of an original artwork. In the presentation of this particular painting, where the tactile richness of the artist’s hand-work in oils has been used to express the impact of hunger, fatigue, and exposure to the elements, the frame is also a powerful reminder of what it means to weather adversity and hardship. And, like the original oil painting inside the frame, the chickadee on the frame has also been signed by the artist. |
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| Using weathered wood, an early step in the design process was to fabricate a sample of the moulding profile he had in mind. This proof of concept helped refine the approach to and the outcome of the finished product. |
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| The veneer applied to the profile was ripped from wood that had weathered out-of-doors at BenHaven for twenty years. Using a strong contact-adhesive, pieces of the weathered veneer were painstakingly attached to the profile by hand in a tedious and time-consuming process. The frame was then finished and identification and documentation were added. |
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| With sunset seeping up the slopes of Mount Timpanogos, Elspeth paints the chickadee on the frame while working at an impromptu easel leaning on the eave of the barn. |
Tags: There Is Help For You, 2016, Framing, Project commentaries
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Browse articles by topic: Art lessons . BenHaven Archives . Blank art diaries . Fine art photography . Framing . Illustration . Inspiration and creativity . Isles of Rune . Limited Editions Collection . My Fathers Captivity . News . Novellas . Oil paintings and prints . Operations announcements . Orders and shipping . Overview . Portfolios . The Papers of Seymore Wainscott . Project commentaries . Recipes by Nancy Young . Recommended reading . Recommended viewing . Temple artworks . The Storybook Home Journal . Tips and techniques . Tools supplies and operations