Welcome to our first Framer's Corner of 2020......
Welcome to our March Framer’s Corner! We are very excited to introduce you all to the newest member of our staff for this edition of our Framer’s Corner, Zoe Holmes! Zoe comes to us from Sitka, Alaska, and has been framing for 3 years. When Zoe’s not in the shop, you can find her on Missoula’s Hellgate Roller Derby Team under her pseudo name Jet Pack. Zoe was recently chosen to participate with Team Indigenous in the WFTDA Championships. Way to go Zoe!!!
Zoe chose a great piece, brought in by first time customer, Lebron Hardie, for her Framer’s Corner. Lebron had brought in a photo of his brother, artist Eldridge Hardie standing in his art studio. The photo was already framed, but was in need of an update, and we were here to help!

There were many sentimental details in the photo that brought back great memories for Lebron, including an easel in the background that he and his brother had made together. Lebron also brought in a book of his brother’s work titled The Sporting Art of Eldridge Hardie-Paintings of Upland Hunting, Angling, and Water Fowling , to share with our staff. We were all drawn to the incredible details of Eldridge’s work, as well as his ability to show movement and action in his work. Eldridge Hardie is an experienced bird hunter and fly fisherman, and expresses his experience in the details of his work. He is an incredibly talented and award-winning artist who resides in Denver, and we here at Frame of Mind are all big fans of his work.

The piece was originally matted with an off white, almost yellow mat, and a natural brown frame. The piece itself was a black and white photo of the artist in his studio, and we wanted to make sure we made the focus of the picture stand out with our new frame job.

The piece had a large variant of grey tones in the piece, so we knew we wanted to work off of those colors instead of defaulting to a white mat and black frame, a common design for black and white photography. We wanted to make our design feel more connected to this sentimental piece.
The grey tones that we chose for the mats helped to bring your eyes to where Eldridge stands in the photograph first, and then travel around the picture, picking up on many small details throughout the piece. We chose a darker "Ash" mat for the top mat with a lighter "Grey Fiori" mat for the bottom mat. This helps your focus go towards Eldridge’s dark hair and the lighter colors of his face and garments. Going too dark would have made your eye go directly to the filing cabinet in the background, which we wanted to avoid, and going too light made your eye focus on the walls in the background.

The frame we chose is a new frame from Designer Moulding. It has a soft rustic texture that angles into the piece and finishes on the outside edges with a smooth matte black to add a nice contemporary feel to the overall feeling of the piece. The texture in the frame felt like it matched well with the details and figures in the piece, helping some items that may otherwise have gotten lost in the background, become noticed and prominent.

We absolutely love the final product, and were so pleased to be able to meet Lebron and his wife, and learn about his talented brother Eldridge Hardie!

If you would like to learn more about Eldridge Hardie’s work, please visit his website at www.eldridgehardie.com

For information on how to purchase Eldridge Hardie’s book, visit: http://www.eldridgehardie.com/TheSecondBook.aspx

1706 Brooks Street
Missoula, MT 59801
406-549-8589