The Mad Matter, added upon

I noticed, the other day, that I don't have much respect for mats. 

I look at them in their pristine state and I am dissatisfied.

This is the first mat upon which I let loose my doodling fingers.

I wanted to personalize the Costco frame for Bethany. She loved bears, so I copied some Winnie-the-Pooh illustrations in the margins. I outlined the drawings in ink and filled in with coloured pencils. So far, the copyright police have stayed away from my door.

I would like it to stay that way, so don't you tell them!

I became so enamoured of the idea that I created a frame for each of the kids around the time of their 18th birthdays. 

Jon's theme was easy.

Critters!

He has since spent considerable time critiquing the accuracy of my drawings, but I tell him nobody cares!

My plan is to finish each frame with a bride and groom kissing, so you can see I am woefully behind.

Annie, I need a photo of you guys kissing!

Annie was all about the dance and the music.

Sam, I need a picture of you and Charlie K-I-S-S-I-N-G!

I think I need to add some variety to that one. A guitar, maybe, and a cowboy hat.

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When we repainted the living room, I framed these photos that I took on one of my NZ jaunts. The stark white mat seemed jarring against the warm browns and blues of the room, so I did some gradated shading around the openings in the mat. Once again, regular coloured pencils did the trick, along with a little finger smudging to smooth it out.

I learned this trick while shading maps in Third Form geography class.

I found this print in Mum's house. It is part of a set of three musically themed prints, one of which she had already given me in a frame. I didn't want to spend too much on the frame, so I found one that almost worked and had a friend cut the mat down to fit. Once again, it was white and looked very stark against the picture and black frame, so I used pastels in two shades, blue and black, and smudged the two colours on the mat.

I'm not totally happy with it, but I like it better than the white.

And I thought you might like to see one of the Haitian paintings that I got framed.

Painting: about $12.

Frame: $110.

Me: Happy.

Oops, Bethany reminded me of this one. I got a collage made of Elsie photos and, once again, didn't like the white mat. Bethany very carefully decoupaged some pink tissue paper over the mat. 

I love it!

And that is all.