Artwork: Drive a Hard Bargain

Stopped by VV Boutique on a lark.
Hubby saw this photograph and liked it - maybe because the landscape reminds us of home (BC).

This was a huge surprise to me, since horses are his least favorite subject matter.
No actually, clowns are his LEAST favorite subject matter... I can still remember how freaked out he got when I almost bought a great clown poster at a church sale... You know, it really is the small joys in life that make it all worth it. Mwahahahaha.
Anyway, the opportunist in me snatched it up, and took it home.

Once I got it home, I examined it. The back of the 11x14 photograph has a "Bruno Engler" sticker, with the photo number. I did a bit of Google-ing, and found that Bruno Engler moved to Canada back in 1939 from Switzerland. He was perfect for the Rocky Mountain landscape as both an avid outdoors man, and a photographer. His artist's bio is here.

This photograph is called, "Horse Drive 1963" and features a drive going through the mountains between BC and Alberta. Nothing makes me happier than Canadian artwork and all things vintage. This artwork is both!

 

Great news about the photograph, and pretty good news about the frame. Not only is the frame wood, but it has the glass intact, and the mat I can work with. The existing hole cut in the mat is way too small for this photograph, but I can fix that.

 

I measure the photo, and then measure and mark the back of the mat to the size I want.

 

Before cutting, I double check the photo size on the lines I marked off.

Using the mat cutter, I line up the cutter bar with the left-hand line, and line the cutter mark with the bottom line.

I push up steadily, and slowly until my cutter mark lines up with the top line.

Once I have turned my mat for each line to be cut, the inside easily falls out of place.
Grey-dog is (as always) super helpful. He brought me a toy skunk to help the process along. :)

I put the photo, mat, and frame back together and gave the whole thing a good cleaning. Pretty dirty...

I then put a picture hanger in the wall at 68" - the center of artwork should be at about 60".

The photo looks great - the signature looks even better.

 

This is the final product. Pretty happy with it! 

Here it is seconds after putting it up. I can already envision adding to this wall and creating an interesting arrangement. Now to dig through all of the bins we have yet to unpack, and see what I can find!

Also, you may remember our haunted chair from this post.