I spent a couple of weeks of wrapping the frames with the copper, applying the chemical to make a patina, & then applying elbow grease with steel wool to burnish them down. I think they are now close to done! I still need to apply the wax to the frames and polish. The paintings are now mounted on board and ready for putting in the frames, so I took a moment this morning to assemble them on the floor, and was excited to see how the copper looked around the paintings. 
Another ArtPrize Exhibition is drawing near! I have been working on mine since January- you can see the beginnings of it in an earlier post. (A short recap: my project is a group of 16 images, all to do with the idea of "The Tenacity of Nature" and deals with how nature makes it through man-made elements no matter how we pull, stomp and push back. And it's good.)
On March 21, 2010 I had an opening at Park Church Congregational Church in downtown Grand Rapids. A friend took some photos of the opening and I took a few photos of the walls.
The Strength of the Spirit of Nature:
Have you ever walked down a path, road or a sidewalk and noticed seedlings and plants trying to make their way through the barriers that mankind has constructed to keep them out? I have long observed and given these tiny bits credit for trying so hard to make it through anything that we put down! Of course I have been a perpetrator as well, and a puller of "weeds" or plant life in the wrong places, but still, I see beauty in the growth, and a tenacity of spirit for these seedlings, to push their way through and venture into life. There is something settling about the way the natural world eventually topples us, slowly, and efficiently, and with great strength of spirit!
The first weekend was pretty exciting! We had an opening on Saturday night, and then Shawn and I had an art talk on Sunday! I brought along digital slides from my computer, and the original plein air painting that my larger piece was painted after.
I am exhibiting in ArtPrize and welcome all to participate. You can pre-register to vote online and then finish registering at a voting station starting September 23rd. I am encouraging everyone to vote and vote often- you can vote for as many artists as you would like in the first week. 
This was painted using a plein air sketch of a pond near my home, early in spring, and early in the morning. I visited the site many times, observing and considering before I took my easel and began painting on a much smaller canvas. Next I brought the sketch to my studio, and began again, making new considerations concerning the image, changing and rethinking the initial conception but yielding to the original inspiration. The painting has been painted on gessoed linen that has been stretched on sturdy stretcher bars. I have a simple mahogany frame that I will bolt the painting into.
On the surface this is a painting of a pond in early morning light, at a point when the leaves are just beginning to form. On a deeper level, I was seeing the scene as representation of the four elements: the air (sky), fire (sun), water (pond), and earth (shore), using the trees to link it together. These elements are basic to our life, they are both life sustaining and dangerous at the same time. In equilibrium they provide the nourishment to the planet, and out of balance, they threaten our existence.
I felt the inherent balance of this landscape, providing a sense of serenity and calm in our harried world. In painting the trees, I could perceive strength of the trees, from roots to treetops; they live rooted in the earth, provide oxygen for our air, protect us from the sun, and bring water from the lowest areas to the tips of the leaves, uniting earth with the heavens.
