It was a real treat for me then today when I popped into my favourite Glasgow Picture Framers today and found a really unusual framing project going on. Joan Eardley, possibly because of financial constraints, created art on all kinds of surfaces. So far I have seen her artwork on metal, hardboard, cardboard, sandpaper as well as plain old paper. She also use two sides of the surface she was working on.
This is the case with the portrait and the landscape art shown above, the are on opposing sides of the same sheet of paper and Art Hire Framing were creating a frame which could be viewed from both sides. Quite ingenious.
The framer was commenting that the portrait was the better executed artwork of the two and it was definitely full of character. I however, loved the landscape. In the distance, at the top, you can see the Clydeside cranes. Even in this rough, sketchy piece, there was so much Eardly drama and emotion going on. The way she splits the composition, the differential line-weights, the smattering of colour and the wonderful perspective.
I only had a moment or two to get a quick peek but it set me up for the day and put a smile on my face. I little slice of Scottish art history during a plain old Friday afternoon.
