Independent Project

The subject of my creation is a mahogany picture frame that I made for drawings of trees that I made. This frame was made out of mahogany that I cut with a table saw and miter saw, along with thin maple inserts at all of the 90 degree joints, there was also many layers of thin wood that were used as backers, and I cut pieces of glass to fit the size of the frame with a glass cutter. For the drawing I put down an initial layer of watercolor paint, then I used ink pens to scribble and make the leaves and trunk of the tree. I chose to create this because turning in only those three drawings wasn't very interesting so I decided to make a frame to go along with it. The elements and principles that I used in this project were line, color, contrast, and balance. This project was composed fairly well, with all of the joints and pieces lining up accordingly.

The composition rules and techniques that I used in this project were formal balance since all of the drawings are evenly spread out across the frame, I also used framing since I individually framed the pictures with the mahogany, while still keeping them as one. My project evolved because I took off a little too much wood with the table saw, so I had to go around all of the joints and adjust them, then I added the maple inserts to make up for the lost space, but I think it makes the frame look better in the end.

The meaning behind this artwork is that the trees and the wood relate with each other to complete the project. The story is that I came up with this way of making trees in 7th grade and since then I have refined it to make it look better. This project relates to my life because I used a technique that I came up with by myself, and I was able to incorporate woodworking into it which I enjoy. If I could revise this I would go back and make sure the drawings are centered, and I would put them in a different order. Also, I would recut the glass because some of the edges didn't come out very clean.