Gypsy Caravan Frame Carving Progress

Here's the progress on Barrie's carving project. It's fun looking at the difference between the carved and uncarved elements. It's taken a while to get all this carved and shaped, but Barrie is confident that the rest of the project will not take nearly as long since there's quite a bit of design and thinking that took place to achieve the carved parts. Except for the grotesque at bottom and the auricular patterns at top center, the rest will be just carving the elements running in the opposite direction of what's already been established. It's really an exciting project and a harbinger of frames to come. WOOHOO!

Gypsy Caravan Frame ©2013 BL Bryant -- work in progress

Shaping a Frame for Gypsy Caravan Painting

Here's Barrie's latest frame showing the work in progress. He caught the carving fever while working on There'll Be Bluebirds (see it pictured in the previous blog post below) and thus chose to up the ante for this new project. Using several historical references from two important books, one by Jacob Simon, The Art of the Picture Frame: Artists, Patrons & the Framing of Portraits in Britain, and the other by Deborah Davis, The Secret Lives of Frames: One Hundred Years of Art & Artistry, Barrie created a preliminary full-scale drawing on graph paper and then transferred the drawing to the "blank" eight-quarter bass wood frame he cut and joined. He'll be posting more pics later this week, or early next detailing progress as well as the finished frame once it is ready for gilding, and certainly the completed project once gilded and prepared for the spring tour. Now we hope you enjoy these...and don't forget to click on each picture so that it will enlarge. WOOHOO!



This is the frame "blank" as prepared and ready for shaping and carving
 



Barrie using a jigsaw during the first stages of shaping

 

Spindle sanding is the next stage of shaping

 

 

Filing clean edges with rasps and rifflers in the warm studio. The painting resting on the mini easel belongs in this frame!

 

 

Here's the shaped frame ready for carving!



Bluebirds FRAMED

We're fast at work in the studios getting ready for our spring tour. So here's one we've just readied for the road, and we're pretty excited about it. Barrie created a shaped, carved, and gilt frame for AB's painting, There'll Be Bluebirds. And we have a strong feeling that, since this frame has brought on so much personal excitement, Barrie'll be making more frames similar to it. Carving is definitely cool. Now click on the image to enlarge it. WOOHOO!

 

There'll Be Bluebirds
Soft pastel & mixed media on watercolor paper
© 2013 AB Word

Shown in its shaped, carved, and gilt metal leaf frame
© 2013 BL Bryant

2013 Spring Show Schedule 2013

We have been notified by all but one of these shows that we've passed jury and been accepted. We suspect that the one we've not heard from yet will put us in the show. So we're going ahead and posting our tour schedule, and it's one that's chock full of Florida locations where we've shown before as well as two new venues at Cedar Key and Sanford. Florida really is the art show mecca, y'all, and we love the shows there.

We're also looking forward to returning to Hilton Head Island for our third time at that venue, which is sponsored by Coastal Discovery Museum in a beautiful setting amidst the live oak trees. So come out and see at a show or two. WOOHOO!

APRIL
06-07, Tarpon Springs Fine Arts Festival at Tarpon Springs, FL
13-14, Old Florida Celebration of Art at Cedar Key, FL (55 miles southwest of Gainesville)
20-21, Chain of Parks Fine Arts Festival at Tallahassee, FL
27-28, Art Market at Historic Honey Horn at Hilton Head Island, SC

MAY
04-05, St. Johns River Festival at Sanford, FL (north Orlando)
11-12, Pensacola Art Museum’s Art in the Park at Pensacola, FL

Fall Tour Great News & Home Sweet Home



So here's the great news--we won three awards during the tour! BEST OF SHOW from Ocala and AWARD OF DISTINCTION & SPONSOR'S CHOICE from Pensacola. A Representative from WUWF 88.1, Pensacola's public radio station, presented us with SPONSOR'S CHOICE.

Our other great news to report is that we sold a major painting, Only You Beside Me, which has always been a fan favorite. We know it has the best home it could ever have now. WOOHOO!

Here's a photo of our booth during the fall tour. Click on the photo and it will enlarge, as will all of the photos on our blog.

All photos © 2012 BL Bryant

 

The trip home from Pensacola was easy going until about 10 miles from the Wyoming border in Nebraska. We awoke at Lincoln, Nebraska to a beautiful sunny 70 degrees morning, but later that day drove into a fierce winter storm. Despite driving 55 miles in the icy and windy storm, we made it to Cheyenne safely at about 3:30 in the afternoon and checked into La Quinta Inn.

The next day was sunny, but cold, and we drove another 50 miles across icy roads from Casper to Shoshoni and then 13 miles through Wind River Canyon. By the  time we reached Kirby at 4:30 that afternoon, the temperature was below zero. The next morning the sunshine did little to warm our studio pictured above with five inches of snow on everything and the mercury reading 9-below zero. Home-Sweet-Home!

New Painting Featuring AB's Newest Model




Lion Tamer
32 x 40 inches framed
Soft pastel with mixed media on rag board
© 2012 AB Word 

Shown in its hand-carved polychrome & gold leaf frame
© 2012 Barrie Lynn Bryant

  
We are now on our fall tour and certainly looking forward to being with everyone at the shows. We've many new pieces to debut, including this one, Lion Tamer, which we feel is a very strong contender as one of our best ever. Come out and see all of AB's new art featuring her main model (the red-haired girl) and her new model (the daughter of the red-haired girl), and Barrie's hand carved frames. WOOHOO!

FALL SHOW SCHEDULE

October 20 & 21, Kentuck Festival of Arts at Northport (Tuscaloosa), Alabama, Booth H07
http://www.kentuck.org/Festivalartists.html

October 27 & 28, Ocala Arts Festival at Ocala, Florida, Booth G4
http://fafo.org/?page_id=1275

November 2, 3, & 4, Great Gulfcoast Arts Festival at Pensacola, Florida, Booth Warhol-6
http://www.ggaf.org/page/the-art-show


And here are a few pics of Barrie getting a picture frame ready for the fall tour...


Barrie carving ionic capital

Preparing for gold leaf by sanding gesso



More gesso sanding on frame for Lion Tamer painting
Photos © 2012 BL Bryant

New Model & New Painting

There'll Be Bluebirds

13.5 x 7 inches
Soft pastel with mixed media on watercolor paper
© 2012 AB Word

AB recently began working with a new model who happens to be the eldest daughter of her main model, the red-haired girl. It's an exciting time for us since this youngster proved her mettle and worked through a fabulous first-time solo model session. And we're excited to unveil AB's new painting of her called There'll Be Bluebirds.

Of course, we're preparing this and others for our fall tour. But if this new piece interests you, you should contact us as soon as possible. We'll be framing it soon, so it'll be ready for immediate delivery or for our first show!


There'll Be Bluebirds is available now in a limited edition print reproduction. Printed on 15.5 x 9 inch paper with the image size the same size as the original painting. Price is $54 and $10 shipping for continental USA orders. International shipping is available, but costs more. All credit and debit cards accepted. Please call Barrie at (307) 864-2697 from 8:00 a.m. until 8:00 p.m. Mountain Standard Time to order.

Framed Painting & Booth Shot

Side Show
Pastel on rag board
©2012 AB Word

Shown in its hand-carved polychrome & gold metal leaf frame
©2012 Barrie Lynn Bryant

Here's another painting we've just added to the black cloak series featuring AB's main model standing with a tiger while a man sits caged in the distance.

A photograph of our booth at a recent show        ©2012 BL Bryant

Crazy as it may seem, we did two summer shows recently: one at Salina, Kansas (featured below in the blog) and another at Casper, Wyoming. We don't normally show in summer since both of us don't care for the HOT months, but the exception ruled this time. We're happy that we went to Salina, anyway. Casper was 100 plus degrees with record breaking highs temps. No fun, indeed.

BEST OF SHOW WINNER

Karla Prickett (left), Director of Smoky Hill River Festival, announces that AB has won the top honor, The Martha Rhea Award of Merit, during the June 9-10, 2012 Fine Art Show held at Salina, Kansas. Ms. Rhea (right), started the show 36 years ago and has nurtured it to be the largest outdoor festival at Kansas and a first-rate venue for arts and crafts. We are very pleased.