Blog

It’s Apple Blossom Time

It’s Apple Blossom Time

It’s Apple Blossom time and every year Eugene paints a new scene just for the festival and makes posters called “The Bloom”. This years poster depicts a farm lane with a blooming apple orchard behind a weathered gray fence. He started this series in 2008, so this years poster is number eight. The previous years posters are still available at the moment. Framing of these posters is contemporary in silver, gold or green metal frames. A new addition to our selections are the pink, raspberry pink, citron green & shamrock wood frames for the posters.

Every spring Winchester VA holds an Apple Blossom Festival celebrating the blooming of the apple trees that are so abundant in our area. Complete with two parades, a queen & princesses, a craft show, wine tasting & several dances or parties to attend. The festival was first held Saturday, May 3, 1924, and was originally celebrated as a one-day event (although not held in 1942-1945 due to World War II) making this the 88th celebration!

Matting Your Artwork

Matting Your Artwork

Matting Your Artwork                                                                                                                                                                                   Matting Your Artwork

A short introduction to matting your artwork, Part 1. In picture framing, a mat is a thin, flat piece of paper-based material included within a picture frame, which serves as additional decoration and more practically, it separates the art from the glass. Typically matting, if matched carefully and properly proportioned, helps draw the eye in towards the artwork, or towards a particular key element of the piece. However, while the mat is usually regarded as something to complement the piece, there are some examples of the mat being regarded by the artist as a part of the artwork. Mats are fairly adaptable in the visual sense. Since they are typically quite thin, they are able to be cut to “stack” inside of a frame, allowing for double, triple or quadruple matting in several colors.

Japanese Tanzaku Panels

Japanese Tanzaku Panels

Japanese Tanzaku Panels

Eugene likes to paint on Japanese tanzaku panels that measure only 2.5 x 14.25 inches. He paints small delicate images on a single panel vertically or horizontally, either way it is amazing to see the tiny details he includes in the scene. He also paints across three panels at a time or eleven panels at one time to create a larger scene. His bamboo brushwork on these panels runs the gamut from florals, to Mt Fuji in Japan, the Li River Valley in Guilin, China and even a local scene of the Wintergreen, VA area.

Japanese Tanzaku Panels

 

Tanzaku boards are made from fine handmade art papers laminated to a hard board backing. They are edged with a strip of gold paper and are used for Sumi-e, haiku and watercolor. Sumi-e in Japanese means painting with ink, literally “sumi” is ink and combined with an “e” creates ink picture. The philosophy of sumi-e is to capture a simplified basic of the object, harmony of the spirit and the artist’s perception. Although Eugene is painting with watercolors, you can see he has captured the harmony of spirit in this piece as well as many others.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Quarters at Blandy Farm

The Quarters At Blandy Farm

The Quarters at Blandy Farm                                                                                                                                                            The Quarters at Blandy Farm

The Quarters is located at Blandy Farm, the State Arboretum of Virginia on Route 50 east of Winchester. The original section was the early nineteenth century slave’s quarters associated with the Tuleyries Estate. This original section dates back to about 1830 and although greatly enlarged in 1941, the architectural integrity of the original Quarters building remains. It is one of the largest surviving examples of an antebellum slave’s quarters in the northern Shenandoah Valley.

 

 

BFQ CROPPEDIf you look closely at the windows in Eugene’s painting you will see a small pair of binoculars in one. These binoculars are a remembrance of our good friend Greg Baruffi who died in a car crash in December 2007. Greg was a master carpenter, bird watcher/bird counter at Blandy Farm and President of the Shenandoah Audubon Society. He was also a co-coordinator of the Blandy Bluebird Trail and builder of the bluebird boxes along the trail.

 

Faded artwork

Faded Artwork?

Faded Artwork?                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           Protecting your art

Do you have faded artwork hanging on your walls? Protecting your artwork from fading is as easy as using the right glass. The Eugene B. Smith Gallery frames with Conservation Grade glass products, including Conservation Clear® and Conservation Reflection Control®, which effectively blocks 99% of all harmful UV light rays. Since UV light rays come from indoor and outdoor light sources, all items on display are vulnerable to the damaging effects of UV light exposure. The pictures at right give a clear example of what UV light can do to your artwork when it is not protected.

Without at least 97% UV protection, framed pieces will age and fade more rapidly.  Indoor and outdoor UV light rays contribute to severe color loss, paper embrittlement and deterioration of framed pieces. These effects are both cumulative and irreversible.  Photos may appear yellow or stained with ghostly silver deposits rising to the surface. Once damage from light has occurred, it can never be reversed. That’s why it is important to understand what you can do to minimize this type of damage before it happens. While it is very important to reduce UV light exposure, this alone will not eliminate fading and other deterioration.  All light, not just UV light can be damaging.  Heat, pollution, moisture & the materials that make up the piece are all contributing factors. Hanging or displaying the piece in a controlled lighting environment with low humidity is recommended.

Our head framer, Marilynn uses conservation clear & conservation reflection control glass on all of Eugene’s originals and signed & numbered prints. While the images pictured above are not Eugene’s artwork, you can certainly see a major difference in the colors. We explain to our customers why we use protective glass and encourage them to do the same on all of their artwork as well. Years from now their family will thank them when the old photos still look good!

 

1 2 3 4 ›»
Back to top