RMW Ramblings

15 April 2021 POLYPTYCH & GROUP PAINTINGS 2. INDIAN FRAME GROUP Thrift stores and flea markets are often a source of unusual frames at bargain prices. I found this one for about fifty cents. It's fun to find an idea for a painting that fits the frame. There is only one frame , but in this case it's six paintings. I assembled the photo above displaying the six little paintings on Masonite panels that I cut to fit.  The subjects are influenced by Indian and South Asia themes. There are only three panels, each painted on both sides.  All three panels reside in a pocket on the back of te frame and the paintings can be rotated to display my choice.  Here is a view of one of the individual paintings...   More group paintings to come.      

13 April 2021 POLYPTYCH & GROUP PAINTINGS 1. PAINTED TURTLE In an earlier posting (5 April 2021) I referred to an assembly of four photographs of the changing seasons through the door window by my desk as a polyptych , a term usually associated with paintings. Painted Turtle, above, is a more traditional polyptych.   Polyptych literally means "multi-hinged."  This triptych of three paintings is exactly that: The three framed paintings are hinged together. And Painted Turtle is also quite literal; it is a painting of a painted turtle ( Chrysemys picta ), the most common turtle in North America. The paintings are acrylic on canvasboard.  Look closely and you will see a band of glyphs which I have isolated here...  The symbols are adapted from petroglyphs carved into rocks along the Susquehanna River and the northern Chesapeake Bay, a habitat where the painted turtle is widely found.  They may be as much as 4000 years old.  There is an interesting post...

  8 April 2021 OTHER STAINED GLASS ADDED TOUCHES   There is a clear glass lunette transom over our front door into our entry vestibule.   I made a stained glass panel to overlay the existing window with a pattern of  flying birds against a sunset sky.   I followed the swooping pattern of the purple-streaked glass to plan the design. The glass segments were assembled using the copper foil technique. Copper foil is wrapped over the glass edges and the segments united by soldering.   A coating of solder covers the foil. This technique gives finer borders between the glass segments and is   used in lampshades and other work with smaller glass segments. The outside edge of the window is enclosed with lead came.   Came is a metal channel into which the glass edge is inserted. It comes in “H” and “U” cross-sections for use between glass segments and on the outer edge, respectively.   There are zinc, brass, and lead versions, with lead used where ...