Reflections Part one

I am very excited to be one of the six locally chosen artists to help celebrate the 10th 21st Century Fund Gala. The fund has raised upwards of 10 million dollars for initiating new educational programs for Brookline High School. This year the fund is honoring 6 different BHS grads or BHS parents. Each artist was asked to create a piece of art for one of the honorees. The catch was that the art was actually the frame! Inside each of the frames will be a mirror, hence the name Reflections. I was matched with Honoree Jonathon Riley, US middle distance runner and 2004 Olympian class of 97.

While I usually don't like to spell out what I'm doing or what I've done, this frame will be presented to and signed by Jonathon and then auctioned of to the highest bidder. It's for a good cause so I'm willing to bend my standards and take you on my frame/art making journey. Here we go:
Step one is ALWAYS getting something on the canvas and collecting my found artifacts. I started with a beautiful frame supplied by Hsiu-Lan, proprietor of Fast Frame and Gala volunteer. Then I flipped through my many books looking for the story I wanted to tell. Even though I was working unconventionally on a frame, I still wanted to go through my standard process.


Step 2 was to add more paint. This is a fun new technique I discovered quite by accident. I use a disposable paper palette when I'm painting and I found that I could actually peel off the paint when it was dry. It's hard to replicate these paint patterns any other way. So I remove the sections I want from the pallet and adhere them with soft gel gloss. Ah, I love soft gel.
I have also started collecting more substantial artifacts at this point.
Step 3 is composition. Tell the story but don't be obvious. And me? I like to add a few fun secrets into each piece. I really wanted this frame to be a fine work of art at first glance. I didn't want this to be covered in running shoes. I like to engage the viewer. I want them to enjoy the piece as they walk by but be rewarded by the secrets within that can only be discovered by making time to look at everything.


Step 4 is putting it all together. Here we have the two bottom corners in progress. Numbers, numbers and more numbers. I also wanted to fit the 5 Olympic rings into the piece, they are hidden in a few different places. Can you spot them. Hint: don't think OBVIOUS.

Tomorrow I will post more of the finished frame. I hope you'll come back to see it!