Framing and Matting Class...Pt. 1

Yesterday I attended the first round of a framing and matting class at Dakota County Technical College. It was just a kickoff class, getting us familiar with a lot of the terms and artistic parts of matting pictures, but it was a lot of fun! As a writer, my visual skills are not always my highest priority, which generally shows in any kind of color matching, spacial things or really anything I need to make look really nice. Because of this, the class was a mind-set change for me and it was kind of fun to look at the ways that colors and sizes of mats can change the way a picture looks. I'd honestly never paid attention to the way that a double-layered mat worked color-wise before, but I found out there's actually a lot of thought behind it. The under-layer that only shows a little bit is picked out to bring out a specific color in the photo, and it really does make a huge difference in what your eye focuses on. Also, the color of this layer should not actually touch that same color in the photo (e.g., a red mat never touches the red in the photo) because it's so hard to match the colors exactly--if they touch, it brings attention to the dissonance. The top layer, which is what you notice the most, should really have very little to do with the photo beyond not clashing, and instead should be matched to the decorating in the room the picture will be hung in. Just some interesting thoughts! Next week we'll actually get into the work of measuring, cutting and putting together the mats. I come out of the class with two matted and framed pictures, which doesn't seem like a half bad class project to me!

On a completely unrelated note, I saw yesterday that since last Thursday, my asparagus has sprouted, my peas have flowered, my potato plant is growing so big it might be trying to take over the world AND my raspberry bushes are getting berries! I figured I'd be lucky to even get some berries in the fall, but they're apparently happy where they are and want to let me know that. Give it another few weeks to a month, and I might be getting actual food out of this garden!