Tuesday, March 5, 2013

To Bad Beginnings and Happy Endings

Yesterday morning started out badly for me. Despite having aced algebra in college, I still cannot, it seems, correctly calculate the width of a matt when it comes to framing my art. Consequently, I ordered half the matting space I needed for the frames for my BFA show coming up this month, and yesterday morning I had to call the framing company bright and early hoping they hadn't already cut my frames and I could cancel my order without the restocking fee. But they had cut them. And I did have to throw a decent bit of perfectly good money out the window to cancel my order, and then reorder my frames in the correct dimensions.

Being a very frugal person, I wasn't one bit happy with myself. So I had a few sniffles, reordered my frames, and then had a few more sniffles. Until my husband called around lunch to see how my ordeal had gone, and upon hearing about it, notified me that, as it was a lovely, sunny day, we were going on a picnic to a wonderful park he had discovered along the Arkansas River. Somehow, he had hit upon the only thing that could really take my mind off my misery: a picnic in a gorgeous park on an early spring day, along the a river no less.

So I packed some soup and sandwiches and a thermos of tea, and off we went. And it was such a beautiful park! It wasn't the usual sort of park, the sort with swing sets and picnic tables in the middle of some trees. It was a little ways out of town in some steep hills covered in woods, with the river flowing lazily past. The trails were wild and rambling, and there were rocky bluffs to sit on top of and look at the river below. But best of all was the abundance of ferns and moss and lichen growing all over.





We rambled all afternoon, and then watched the sunset, which was simply exquisite. No painting can ever capture the flaming glory of a sunset. No colors are gaudy enough, vibrant enough, thrilling enough! It was just perfect. A lovely end to a bad beginning.







5 comments:

  1. Awww, I'm so glad to hear the ending; I was wondering off and on yesterday if it worked out. Hurrah for good husbands; I read a poem once by a contemporary author (male), which talked of rescuing the maiden though she might not NEED rescued (ie, she could take care of herself). It's nice to have someone to rescue you, however independent we are.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It is nice to have someone to rescue me from myself. I obsess over things like that too much, when in reality they don't matter all that much. Most of the time, I can take care of whatever problems arise, but I can't always make myself feel better about it, which is an entirely different kettle of fish.

      Delete
  2. What an absolutely beautiful place for an early spring picnic - exactly the kind of place I love to wander in, verdant with mosses and ferns and light... I hope it did the trick and raised your spirits.
    Myself and my husband are picture framers and it is easy to make a mistake even when you've been a professional for donkeys years, so don't feel bad! The other day I had spent a good two or three hours shadow mounting a document C.1630's signed by King Charles I with the transcription in a second aperture beneath. I had just finished fitting and taping it all when I noticed I had missed an entire line of text out of the transcription - had to strip it right back to the start! I've cut plenty of mounts the wrong size too in my time...
    I'll look forward to hearing how your show goes, I hope its a great success!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, it definitely lifted my spirits. We both really needed some time outdoors in the sunshine anyway.

      Well, that does make me feel better to know even professionals make mistakes. I know how to matt a picture, and I've done it before. I just completely forgot and only added the matting space for one side. I guess the worst part was that it seemed so blatantly obvious when I realized what I'd done.

      Oh, that sounds very exciting, to frame a document signed by King Charles I!

      I'll have to post up pictures of my work in the show. I hope it's a success too, and that nothing other than the framing goes wrong now...

      Delete