"My [Man] Made the Frame"

Recently, I made a couple picture frames for my wife. Her two-sided pieces needed frames that were decent looking on both sides, and she couldn't find what she wanted in a store. See one of her pieces for this show here (her blog) or here (the Fuller Lodge Art Center). For my part, here are the frames, sanded and ready for paint

and here is one finished with the art in place. Basically, the art and glass slide into the frame through a groove in the bottom.

I built the frames (and some "feet" for a third frame she bought), then chuckled as I thought of this Gary Larson "Far Side" cartoon (which I lifted from "newspaperarchives.com")

and all the other picture frames I've made over the years, and the few I need to finish. No, I'm not going to open a frame shop any time soon, but it's nice to be self-sufficient in this regard. It's fun to create something that is elegant in its own right, but which also accentuates the beauty of something else. I guess that's the essence of the relationship between a picture and its frame, isn't it?

----------------------------------------------------------

In other "Art & Music Exchange" news--

I added a new piano student and a new guitar student in the last couple weeks. That brings my grand total up to 5 students. There may be a couple more coming on as well. Woo hoo! I'm planning a recital in May. 

I only have a couple February gigs:
- Feb 8, K2 Women's ski weekend party, Craig Martin Experience, tentative due to lack of snow
- Feb 25, Pajarito Pub & Grill, DK & the Affordables, 8-midnight, $5 cover.

As we get into March, I've got:
- March 8, I'm teaching a fly tying class at Warm Hearts Yarn in White Rock. Consult their blog for details.
- March 15, CME is playing at the Empty Bowls fundraiser for Self-Help, Inc.
- March 21-23 I'm leading a Level-2 Mountain Travel and Rescue class for local ski patrollers. It's been in the works for about 5 years, and it will probably be my last ski patrol "hurrah" for a while. After this class is over, I plan to hand MTR instruction (locally and regionally) over to someone else.

----------------------------------------------------------

In the "Random Thoughts" category--

My back has been "out" again. While it feels much better today, and I have kicked the pain killers that have been a staple for the past few days, I still can't bend over to the left without a needle stabbing me in the hip. But it's getting better, and I imagine I'll be pain-free (and back to running) in a week or so. Anyway, this post from Zen Habits really hit home last week, as the author explored happiness in the face of his own misery. It was what I needed to hear. And then last night, at 10 pm, as I was not quite done stretching and contemplating queue-ing up the next episode of Caprica, I remembered this post about not "scratching the itch." So, I finished my stretching to the crackling of the fire in the wood stove, and went straight to bed rather than staying up until 11 numbing my mind with video. Maybe getting enough sleep made a difference in my physical well-being and in my attitude. At any rate, I highly recommend Mr. Babauta's blog, both for its content and simplicity. Mindfulness and thoughtfulness are ideas I've been working on for a several years now, with, as you might expect, mixed results. Still, those ideals are worthy of effort.

Thanks for reading, and have a great week!