Matte About You

Quick realization before I begin: Philadelphia is “always sunny” and Florida is the “Sunshine State.” Can anybody make any puns out of this?

I have been absolutely M.I.A. on my social media with all of this prep work for Florida. In exactly one week I’ll be driving on down to take on all of the art fairs I’ve been accepted into:

• 2/8-9 Boca Raton Museum of Art 28th Outdoor Juried Art Festival
• 2/15-16 Downtown Dunedin Craft Festival
• 3/1-2 Las Olas Art Fair Part II
• 3/8-9 Jupiter Art Fest by the Sea
• 3/15-16 Key Biscayne Art Festival
• 3/22-23 Hyde Park Village Art Fair
• 3/29-30 Altamonte Spring Art & Music Festival
• 4/5-6 St. Pete Beach Corey Area Craft Festival
• 4/12-13 Cedar Key Arts Festival

Florida is a whole new realm of art for me. Because all of my art is black and white, it’s difficult for me to work with colors. Black and white represents my work best. It’s simple and puts more of the focus on the technique and the image.

With Florida just around the corner, I have been busy cutting up matte for my prints. When you think of Florida, you think of bright, tropical colors. For this reason, I have been playing with different colored matte and I’m finding it more challenging than it should be! So many decisions!

Though color isn’t my favorite thing ever, it’s amazing to see how framing my work in the colored matte transforms it completely. The mood of it changes. The feelings it reflects change.

Cutting the matte is taking up a lot of my time. It’s a matter of measuring each individual board and then measuring it and then cutting down the scraps and repeating this process about three times for each board. There’s got to be an easier way! (I just haven’t learned it yet!)

While I am away in Florida, I will do my best to update you of my journey! I wish I would’ve discovered the world of art fairs sooner, but better late than never! So get ready or not Florida, ’cause here I come!