Welcome to our first time multiple designer Framer’s Corner! It’s always a treat when you get to collaborate with another framer on a design, and work together to come up with the perfect layout for a piece of artwork. That was the case when we decided to frame Monte Dolack’s Moonlight Rainbows for our gallery.

Amy Doty and Heather Cox have worked together as framers for many years, in past jobs, and now here at Frame of Mind. They each know the other’s design style, and work off each other well.
The Design:
One thing both Amy and Heather agreed upon, was that they wanted to draw out the beautiful colors in this lithograph, so we decided we could best do that with custom fabric from a supplier of ours, Frank's Fabrics. 
Initially, both designers thought that a light cream silk mat would help to highlight the glowing dragonflies, and auras around the fish, but as they began to search the creams, they knew that the piece became washed out and that a bolder color was needed.
After comparing many different tones, the 2 came across the perfect fabric, Mandarin Dusty Green. This silk fabric has colors of greens and blues that are threaded together and intertwined to create an interesting texture and a unique color.
Next the 2 designers added a three inch beveled liner wrapped in Lancer Rain, another one of Frank’s Fabrics beautiful silk fabrics. This liner really added some depth to the design and we love how it turned out. The textures of the fabrics play very well off the smooth texture of the lithograph.
After finding just the right colors of mats, Amy and Heather decided it would be best to float the piece on the fabric mats. The piece’s edges are done in a deckled edge, creating a natural raw edge that looks as if it were torn straight from a sketchbook. To highlight the details of the deckled edge, it was decided to not only float the piece, but to do a raised float. This is a process that is done by layering foamcore under the piece so that it sits off the bottom mat, creating depth and shadows along the edges.
The next step was finding the right frame for this great design. The two went with a hammered pewter frame from Omega Moulding. The coloring ranges from dark edges to highlighted shines of silver on the detailed parts of the frame.Speckled details in the frame texture which work perfect with the piece, almost resembling the markings of a trout.fish markings. This frame choice really ties the whole piece together.
The Art:
Moonlight Rainbows is a large Lithograph by local artist Monte Dolack. Monte is a well known Montana artist and our featured artist in our Frame of Mind gallery.

Moonlight Rainbows is a hand drawn 23 color original lithograph and part of the Moonlight Suite Series portraying various species of trout soaring in a mythic ritual from a mysterious mountain lakescape.
Moonlight Rainbows
What is a lithograph?

The word “lithograph” is derived from two ancient Greek words: “lithos” meaning “stones,” and “graphien” meaning “to write.” The practice is defined as a style of printing that makes use of the immiscibility of grease and water when they come into contact with one another. While other printing methods require etching and other forms of imprints, lithography is unique because it more closely resembles painting.

A lithograph is not a copy, nor a reproduction. A lithograph is created without an already existing image. A artist creates an original lithograph directly on the printing surface. While the terms "print" and "original"seem contradictory, the direct printing of the artist's original concept makes multiple prints original works of art, even though more than one copy is "pulled" or printed. Each "print" in the edition is an original because each will differ slightly due to variations in the printing as the edition is pulled: slight variations can occur in the ink density, the condition of the limestone or metal plate, and other factors.

The image is drawn or painted on a limestone or metal plate or mylar surface with a greasy crayon or ink. The stone or matrix is then weakly etched to fix the design. During printing, the stone or metal plate is dampened to prevent the ink (which is rolled on) from adhering to the untreated areas. The greasy areas repel the water, but accept the ink.
Heather and Amy really enjoyed bringing their two distinctive design styles together to create a stunning display of one of Monte Dolack’s most popular lithographs.

To learn more about Moonlight Rainbows and it’s companion pieces, visit our website here.
Moonlight Series
The companion series to Moonlight Rainbows
Moonlight Leaping
Moonlight Rising
Moonlight Soaring
1706 Brooks Street
Missoula, MT 59801
406-549-8589